Neesh or Nitch?
Ok, so the proper spelling is “NIche” and it should be pronounced the way the French would say it, so that would be “Neesh.” Most people tend to pronounce it so it rhymes with “Itch.” Either way, it refers to a certain segment of the Real Estate marketplace that one wants to specialize. For one reason or another, agent’s will gravitate to a specific area, sometimes more than one, and promote themselves as the expert in that field. There are too many possibilities and agents may choose to embrace several areas and each of them requires specific training and experience in the field to enhance one’s credibility in the area. Let me give you a half dozen or so which are recognized by the NAR (the National Association of Realtors.)
- Military and Veterans: The Military Relocation Professional (MRP) certification is for real estate professionals who want to work with current and former military service members. Military both active and retired have special considerations that affect their ability to buy or sell (i.e. immediate deployments, etc.)
- The GREEN Designation, the GREEN REsource Council provides ongoing education, resources and tools to help real estate practitioners find, understand, and market properties with green features.
- Seller Representative Specialist / SRS: The Seller Representative Specialist (SRS) designation is the premier credential in seller representation. It is designed to elevate professional standards and enhance personal performance. The designation is awarded to real estate professionals who demonstrate the knowledge and skills essential for seller advocacy
- Seniors Real Estate Specialist® / SRES®: The SRES® Designation program educates REALTORS® on how to profitably and ethically serve the real estate needs of the fastest growing market in real estate, clients age 50+. This is an extremely expansive group of buyers and sellers in 716 land and is frequently overlooked because most people think all the Seniors are in Florida. Ever heard of the term “snowbird?” This will lead us directly to the next area of specialization.
- Resort & Second-Home Property Specialist / RSPS: This certification is designed for REALTORS who facilitate the buying, selling, or management of properties for investment, development, retirement, or second homes in a resort, recreational and/or vacation destination are involved in this market niche.
- Short Sales & Foreclosure Resource / SFR® The SFR® certification teaches real estate professionals to work with distressed sellers and the finance, tax, and legal professionals who can help them, qualify sellers for short sales, develop a short sale package, negotiate with lenders, safeguard your commission, limit risk, and protect buyers.
- At Home With Diversity® / AHWD: Here agent’s learn to work effectively with – and within – today’s diverse real estate market.
As an educator, and a member of the faculty for the Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors, I hold 4 of the above Nationally recognized designations and several that are more localized (i.e. Buffalo Residential Specialist with fewer than 10% of the agents in our area) but my practice has the greatest strength in The Military Relocation and Senior specialist sector.
So a good question to ask your Realtor when you sit down with them is, “So, do you have any areas that you specialize in or are simply a Residential Broker.” Depending on the answer they give, they may bring greater value to your table specifically.
“Hey, I wrote the book on Real Estate, literally.”
Author Brendan J. Cunningham is a New York Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker, lead of the Platinum Team at HusVar Real Estate, as well as an accomplished writer, Shakespearean trained professional actor, and podcaster.
Start your home search now at www.husvarre.com