Geographically competent is a term that we use often when talking about Appraisers. In most cases, lenders can’t pick the appraisers like they used to do. The reality of today’s market is that the lender must submit the request for an appraiser to a third party who then makes the assignment. More often than not, the appraiser that comes to Big Bear is not geographically competent and this incompetence has caused serious issues with appraisals.
The term geographically competence should apply to more than just the appraisal industry. It is my belief that it should also apply to your Real Estate agent! When you walk into your local Real Estate office, you should find yourself speaking to an agent who is geographically competent for the areas that he covers. If I wanted to buy a beach property in Newport Beach, I would seek out a Realtor who is geographically competent in that area. The Realtor in Newport Beach is most likely going to know all that there is to know about ocean front properties. But I wouldn’t expect him to know too much about the inventory in Big Bear.
Let’s say that you got sick and needed to go to the doctor. Would you go to a Podiatrist if you were having chest pains? Would you go and see an orthopedic doctor for the flu? Of course not! Even though they are all doctors, it would make sense to see the doctor who specialized in your illness.
When it comes to finding a Realtor, why should it be any different? Why would you pick a Realtor in Los Angeles to find you a home in Big Bear when they are not geographically competent? They have no idea what the values are in the different areas of Big Bear and they don’t know the inventory. What ends up happening is you find a nice home and you go to this out of area agent to make the offer. As he has no idea what is going on in Big Bear, he writes an offer that is so farfetched that it is destined to fail.
If you’re serious about finding the best deal that you can on a home in the Big Bear Valley, you need to start with a geographically competent Realtor. Your Realtor needs to know the inventory so that when you tell him what you’re looking for, he’s looking for his car keys and not his laptop!
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