As we move toward the busy summer season, a lot of new listings will be coming on the market each week. In order for agents to do a good job helping their buyers, they have to familiarize themselves with every property that is listed for sale.

Since the Incline Village/Crystal Bay real estate market is characterized by custom homes, it is imperative for agents to visit each property and learn as much as they can about the particular features and attributes. This can be done by making the rounds on the Multiple Listing Service tour on Tuesdays, or previewing properties in advance of showing them to prospective buyers.

One of the biggest problems we experience with agents, who do not work full time in our community, is their lack of specific knowledge about the properties for sale. It’s impossible to do a good job representing a buyer if you are not educated as to the particular nuances that you will find at each place. Attributes, such as the floor plan, interior quality, lot lines, sun exposure during each of the seasons, ease of driveway access, proportionality of the rooms and many other features, can only be ascertained by visiting a property and spending enough time there to absorb everything.

Buyers routinely do searches on the internet where they see lots of pictures and virtual tours. But these images only tell part of the story. Whether a property suffers from a lot of street noise, unruly neighbors, long flights of stairs, or other possible negative situations can only be learned while at the property. Even condos with identical floor plans in the same complex can have radically different locations and views resulting in a significant difference in desirability and market value.

Just last week, we got a phone call from an out of area agent who was trying to show a property and they claimed the key did not work. It turns out the agent was on Apollo Court when the house for sale was located around the corner on Apollo Way. Now, anyone can make a mistake or get a bit confused by the streets in our community. But if the agent knew the inventory, they would have realized immediately when they arrived at the wrong house that it was not the correct property.

Most buyers have very specific criteria that are important to them. The only way that agents can show the most appropriate properties to each of their buyers is to be intimately familiar with each place before they show it. Buyers can get discouraged quickly if they are shown one property after another that holds no interest for them. Realistically, most buyers can only absorb looking at between six and eight properties in one day. Trying to show too many properties can lead to confusion and an inability to differentiate between all of the different places they have seen. Yet, agents unfamiliar with the inventory will often take a shotgun approach hoping something hits.

So it behooves agents to not only learn the inventory, but also only show properties in the areas where they have detailed knowledge of the houses and condos for sale. With the average price in Incline Village and Crystal Bay being significantly higher than most other Northern Nevada communities, out of area agents are attracted to doing business here. However, their lack of familiarity with the individual properties and subdivisions makes them a liability, not an asset to their clients. We have learned that it is better to refer our buyers to agents in other communities who have detailed knowledge of the inventory in their local market, and to concentrate our efforts on the areas we know best.

Don Kanare and Sabrina Bellici are the owners of RE/MAX North Lake. Read their blog and find weekly stats on their website at http://www.InsideIncline.com.