You can give depth to your Agent Insight pages with photos and written insights showcasing local history. These submissions are fun to research and easy to write. They tell your readers a little extra about the areas where they are shopping for new homes. History buffs will love learning about the community’s past, and everyone will enjoy little tidbits about local lore. Most important, historical posts can help potential home buyers feel a connection to the community’s past while looking forward to being part of its future.

Some of our creative RE/MAX agents have posted wonderful submissions inspired by the history of their communities. There are impressive insights on town founders, Civil War battlefields, famous old hotels, historic train engines, and even a state’s oldest tree.

You could choose to cover some big stories like the building of the century-old town hall. You might decide to write about something more obscure, like the excerpt from this amusing insight by Julie Daste, RE/MAX N.O. Properties in New Orleans, about a local bar that is nearly 300 years old.

Lafittes Blacksmith Shop Is the Oldest Bar in the US
Travel back in time at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, the oldest bar in the country! But this isn’t your ordinary haunt:  Lafitte’s is heralded as one of the coolest watering holes around and featured on countless “Best Bars” lists including Time Out and Maxim magazine. While there’s some debate as to whether it really was the first establishment to sling drinks, we do know that the structure was built back in 1722. Upon opening, the bar was owned and operated by the famous Pirate Jean Lafitte, where it would function as a blacksmith shop by day and smuggling operation by night.

Resist the urge to use verbiage straight from brochures about your subjects. All posts must be written in your own words. But, again, these are really fun to write! You might choose to include an accompanying video with your submission. There is an excellent YouTube video linked with Julie’s insight on Lafittes Blacksmith Shop shown above.

You can take dozens of photos depicting local history.  Deciding which to send might be your most difficult task! Take a look at these beauties sent from agents around the country.

As with all photo submissions to Agent Insight, use some basic photography rules to show your subjects at their best.  Take several shots from different angles, then submit your favorite. Never shoot through your car windshield and risk ruining your picture with glare or grime on the glass. Remember that all Agent Insight photos are horizontal. If you submit a vertical picture, it will likely require substantial cropping.

The goal of Agent Insight is to show all aspects of your market area and give it plenty of appeal to potential home buyers. Submissions on local history give you another opportunity to present yourself as an expert on everything about the community.

Photos provided by Sherman Shanklin, RE/MAX of Green Country, Nowata, OK; Wendy Chong, RE/MAX Preferred, Oklahoma City, OK; Patti Schreiner, RE/MAX Southern Homes, Birmingham, AL; Ryan Eashoo, RE/MAX Edge, Davison, MI; and Darohnn Pender, RE/MAX Real Estate Results, Bentonville, AR.