I Know Some Homes Better Than the Agent Selling Them

By Katie DeWitt

Katie got into real estate in 2013, starting on the title and escrow side, where she learned how deals actually come together, the fine print, the timelines, and the small things that can make or break a transaction.

When you buy a home, you’re making one of the biggest decisions of your life. You make it off a listing that only reflects what the current agent happens to know, which is often surprisingly little. A thin listing on a solid home can send you right past it. A pretty one can talk you into overpaying. The single best protection against both is an agent who actually remembers the house from before, and after nearly 14 years in one market, that’s what I’ve quietly become. “I’ve been doing this for 14 years” is a cliché every agent uses. Here’s what it genuinely buys you.

The same houses come back around. Work one area long enough, and you don’t sell a house once and forget it; you see the same homes return. I’m now re-selling houses I sold years ago and walking buyers through homes I personally listed four or five years back, and I’ve kept detailed notes the whole time. I’ll pull up a current listing, read the private remarks, and realize the agent selling it doesn’t know things about that house that I do. I was there, and I wrote it down. It’s the same reason a public listing rarely tells the whole story.

A thin listing hides good homes. Here’s my favorite example. I had buyers who were very particular: an updated furnace and roof, non-negotiable. We came across a home they were ready to reject on sight, about 30-year-old, with a listing that mentioned no updates, so they assumed 30 years of wear. I had sold that house before, and my notes showed the furnace and roof had both been redone about seven years earlier. I told them not to skip it, we went and saw it, and it was exactly what they wanted. If they’d only read the listing, they’d have driven right past their own home. That kind of neighborhood-level memory is also why timing and local knowledge move the needle.

Real history sharpens the offer. Knowing a home’s true history and condition also changes how you negotiate. When I’ve been through a house before, I understand what it’s worth and what’s behind its walls. That lets me help buyers make an informed offer instead of overpaying on how it photographs. That first-hand context, built over years in one market, is hard to compete with. It pairs with knowing how to answer a lowball or a counter from a position of real knowledge. It also starts with a grounded number rather than a guess, which is why I give buyers a real valuation, not a Zestimate. You want someone in your corner who remembers, not someone guessing.

Memory saves wasted showings. The benefit people never think about is time. Because I’ve physically toured and sold so many homes here, I can often tell a buyer I walked that one last week. Or that I sold it a few years ago and know what the photos don’t show. I can tell them honestly whether a home is even worth their afternoon. Over the years, that has saved my clients hours of driving to houses that were never going to fit. An agent who’s already been inside half the market spends your time only on the homes that actually work.

Ask what the years buy you. When an agent tells you how many years they’ve been in business, don’t treat it as a throwaway line. Treat it as a question worth asking, just as NAR suggests you interview a buyer’s agent. For me, 14 years means a first-hand memory of the homes themselves: pointing you to the well-cared-for ones, making informed offers, and saving your time. That’s what real local experience looks like in practice.

If you’re buying or selling in the Eugene area and you want that kind of knowledge working for you, I’d love to help. Call or text me at 503-621-6832, email me at katie@movewithdewitt.com, or visit movewithdewitt.com.

Let’s put all those years to work for you.