They say real estate is all about location, location, location. Flying back and forth from Georgia to New York to California to Texas seems to prove the point regularly. Somehow no matter how small the world seems to become with technology it still never gets to the point where non-locals overcome the out of town bias. If you don’t live there you can’t possibly understand their issues.
One thing I’ve learned from working with my many colleagues around the country is that the right process makes all the difference in the world. Having knowledge of the market is good but if you don’t know how to apply it to that client’s situation it is still useless. Similarly, having the process but no data to plug in doesn’t get the answer either.
Balance is the key. Bring both to the table and apply as needed. It is easier to research the numbers and conditions than to teach and train process but don’t sell either side short.