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Over many years I’ve continued to be stunned by how little real estate agents are about the locations of the homes they’re selling or assisting buyers in acquiring. Ask the name of the park or school across the street, where you can stop for breakfast nearby before visiting an open house, the location of the nearest El stop and so on, and you’ll more often than not get a blank stare rather than an accurate answer. In an industry whose mantra is “location, location, location” its practitioners are typically clueless, clueless, clueless.
Ask what neighborhood the property is located in, however, and you’ll get a firm, confident answer. If it’s not in a location uniformly perceived as desirable, there’s a good chance the answer is a lie or an error resulting from ignorance.
Misidentifying a neighborhood name generally has few, if any, harmful consequences in the city of Chicago. When the home you bought in West Roscoe Village turns out to be in Avondale, the Chicago Police and Fire Departments respond to your problems, the trash gets picked up, the water comes from Lake Michigan, and so on. There’s no impact on the delivery of municipal services.
If you’re buying a home you’ve been told is in Glen Ellyn or Winnetka or Lake Bluff and it turns out to be in an unincorporated area, the consequences can be costly. You may have a long wait for a County Sheriff to respond to a law enforcement emergency, may have to pay non-resident fees to use the local parks or libraries, and may have water that’s reddish brown as it comes from the tap. In some cases a homeowner’s association may have contract with a neighboring municipality for the provision of some services, fire protection being a common one.
Unincorporated areas are more common than you might think. In Cook County they encompass 62 square miles and 98,000 residents.
It’s easy to take for granted the extensive range of services that local municipalities provide their residents. Don’t. Never rely on information in a real estate listing about a property’s location or an agent’s representations as to what’s included in your property tax bill.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
While I can understand that there can be some frustration when a locality question is asked and the real estate professional doesn’t have a ready answer, it happens.
I work in a vacation home market, but have been licensed in three states and have worked subdivisions and urban markets. If I spent my time trying to memorize every coffee house name and location, or the names of parks, I would be neglecting what I consider to be far more important things I need to know about the market, local zoning, septic laws, water issues and more.
Due diligence is one of my jobs. Once a client has indicated more than a passing interest in a home, they can give me their questions and I’ll get them thorough answers about services, government, etc. I find that far more efficient and have no complaints from my clients.
To have the level of knowledge that would allow answering the many questions off the top of my head that can be asked would necessitate narrowing my market coverage to such a small area that I would be out of business and unable to answer any questions.
I agree! In a large town, there is simply no way an agent can know every neighborhood and what’s nearby. I would, certainly, find the answers to any client’s questions when they show interest in a property.
I can’t believe Joe Zekas hasn’t commented back yet and kept a comment discussion up, per usual. I mainly want to know if this means he agrees with Jame’s comment…
Ashley,
I was assuming that readers would conclude that I didn’t agree with his comment based on the content of my post.
I find it laughable that an agent can say “Once a client has indicated more than a passing interest in a home, they can give me their questions and I’ll get them thorough answers …”
The client typically doesn’t know what to ask in an unfamiliar area, nor does the agent, and there’s no way an agent can do adequate due diligence on questions that require in-depth local market knowledge and can have a significant impact on value.