How to find a genuinely local expert in a new city

When you are moving to a city you do not know, the person advising you is more important than any tool, because they are the only part of the process that can tell you what is not written down. The problem is that everybody in the industry describes themselves the same way, so the label tells you nothing.

The way through it is to ask questions that are hard to answer without actually living somewhere.

Ask questions with specific answers

Generic questions get generic answers. These ones do not.

• Which two neighborhoods do people usually compare, and why do they end up choosing one over the other? A local will have heard this conversation a hundred times and will have a view.
• What is the thing buyers in this area regret six months later? An honest answer here is the single strongest signal you will get.
• Where would you not buy right now, and why? Somebody who will not answer this is selling, not advising.
• What does a bad inspection usually turn up on houses of this age around here? Housing stock has regional failure modes and locals know them.
• How long does a house like this normally sit, and what does it mean if it has been listed for longer?

Listen for reasons, not enthusiasm

The useful answer has a mechanism in it. Not that a street is lovely, but that it is quiet because it does not connect through, and that the trade off is a longer route to the main road. Not that a school is good, but that it is oversubscribed and what that means for enrolment timing.

Enthusiasm about everything on your shortlist is not local knowledge. It is agreement, and agreement is worthless when you are the one who does not know the city.

Check how you are being paid attention to

A relocating buyer is a specific job. It involves more video, more written detail, more work done before you ever arrive, and a willingness to tell you that a house you liked online is not worth the flight. Ask directly how many out-of-town buyers they worked with last year and what they do differently for them.

Also ask what happens after closing. The people worth finding are the ones who still answer the phone when you need a plumber in March.

Understand where your details are going

If you fill in a form on a national portal, your information may be sold to several agents who compete to reach you first. That is a real business model, and it means the person who calls you fastest is not necessarily the person who knows the most.

Ask the question plainly: are my details going to one person, or to a group? You are entitled to the answer, and it tells you what kind of process you have just entered.

LocalRelo works the other way round on purpose. One named person per city, who lives there, and your details go to them rather than to a bidding pool.

Tell us where you are headed and we will introduce you to one person, not four.Get matched with a local