Jonathan Bowen | Hub Edge Realty | July 18th, 2018
Channel: Hub Edge Realty
Date: 18/07/2018

Jonathan Bowen of Hub Edge Realty talks about Nextdoor and Zillow...

Jonathan Bowen has been selling real estate around Greater Boston since 1999 and, since that time, has helped people buy and sell over $100,000,000 worth of real estate. Jonathan is currently the Managing Broker of Hub Edge Realty. Jonathan loves his family...

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Transcript...

Hey folks, how are you? It's Jonathan Bowen with Hub Edge Realty and, ahm, ahm, I want to talk about some news that came out yesterday, ah, Inman News is a, sort of a big, ah, provider of real estate related news and they, ah, came out with a story yesterday, ah, the title is "Nextdoor takes on Zillow's Zestimate with home valuations" so, I don't know if you have an iPhone or any sort of a smartphone, ah, Nextddoor is a, sort of a company that, ah, helps you to communicate with your neighbors, I'm on Nextdoor, I don't use it too frequently but I am on it, ahm, so Nextddoor is going to be adding valuations, ah, to its service, real estate valuations to its service, ahm, ah, just like Zillow did with this Zestimate, ah, about 10 years ago so, ahm, you know, real estate agents, Realtors, ahm, you know, some, some of, some of them get worried when they read news like this because they worry that, you know, they're not going to have a job, so, ahm, so I, I, you know, my, my philosophy is that, ahm, ah, I don't worry about any of these, ahm,  sites that provide home value estimates, ahm, I don't really think it's the job of a real estate agent, I kind of reject the notion that it's the real estate agent's job to value, ah, ah, exactly, the, ah, any property, ah, ho..., ah, excuse me, real estate agents can give a range of value, ahm, you know, it's a funny thing, you know, sellers, when you go in on a listing appointment and you with sellers, you know that the first thing that a seller, the most important thing, well there are two important things: "What's the commission?"; and "How much is my home worth?" Okay? Ahm, they want that information, now, ahm, I've lost listings because I valued properties lower than the seller thought it was worth, sometimes I am right and sometimes I am wrong, ahm, that isn't, ahm, in my opinion though, that isn't, ahm, the value of a real estate agent. Okay? Ahm, the value of a real estate agent, think of a real estate brokerage as a marketing firm, and what the real estate brokerage does is, it specializes in marketing real estate, that's simply what it is that real estate brokerages do, ah, valuing a property, giving a price, putting a price on a property, ahm, that's a part of what real estate agents and Realtors do but it's only, ah, it's only a very small portion of what we do, so the way I go about it is, I try to give a range, some sellers want to nail you down on a price, I think that is ridiculous, quite honestly, I, I, you know, it's not what you should be, as a seller, it's not what you should, you know, people, you know, sellers may think, "Oh, well he doesn't think my house is worth X amount of dollars". You know... "Who is he or who is she?" Ahm, no. As a seller, you want to know, "What is it that this real estate brokerage, what is this real estate agent doing?" "What is this...? How is this real estate agent going to market my property to try to get me the most amount of money?" Ah, and, ga..., you know, give the property, ahm, as much, ahm, ah, exposure as possible, okay? So I'm not worried about Nextdoor, I'm not worried about Zillow, ah, because I don't think that real estate agents should be putting a pinpoint value on homes, a real estate agent's job is to come in with the comparable properties, show you what the comparable properties have sold for and leave it in your hands because, ah, as the seller, because you are, ah, if you're not educated, if you weren't educated, that real estate agent's job is to educate you, not to tell you what to do, not to hold your hand and, ahm, ahm, you know, and lead the way, a real estate agent's job is to guide the way, walk with you, not walk in front of you, so anyway, ahm, the "Nextdoor, ah, takes on Zillow's Zestimate...", that's fine, ah, the more the merrier, you know, ahm, whoever wants to provide home value estimates is, ah, that's fine with me, by the way, ah, Realtor Property Resource, RPR, that's, right now, in my opinion, the best valuation model, ah, modeling, ahm, ah, program, so, ah, that's it, alright? Thank you very much. Have a good night. Bye bye.