The Importance of a Local Realtor, Especially in Summit County
Using a local realtor can make the difference between a smooth purchase and one that makes you want to pull your hair out. Each and every real estate market is unique and it takes time and experience in that market to fully understand the nuisance. While most agents are licensed to sell anywhere in the state, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they should.
Most agents are part of a local board. An agents home board is where the have the most knowledge and experience. They may also be able to obtain listing from another board, but without continually doing transactions in that area, there are many things that may be overlooked. If you are looking for an agent in Summit County or the mountain region, a couple things you might want to ask are…
1) How many properties have you sold in this area?
2) Are you familiar with how to write a contract when a home is being sold furnished?
3) Are you familiar with working with HOAs and what challenges that might present?
4) Do you know what makes a property warrantable and non-warrantable? Do you know what makes a property a condo-tel?
5) What are the septic requirements in the area if any? Which areas are required to connect to sewer?
6) How are “owed but not due” issues normally handled?
7) Do you know where the Wildland Urban Interface Zones are?
8) Do you know where the flood zones are?
9) What additional services would you recommend on an inspection? Radon test, infrared viewing, etc?
10) What are the rental markets like in the area? What is an expected gross income? What are management fees like?
The use of a local realtor in the mountains has become such a hot topic that our board is going to be instituting a certification called a Summit Area Specialist. There are knock off programs such as the Certified Mountain Specialist that are offered elsewhere but there is no requirement that you actually sell anything in the mountain region before you can obtain this certification. The Summit Area Specialist will require an ongoing number of sales to keep the certification. It’s important that your realtor intimately know the market they are selling so you don’t end up with a headache down the road.
