I have domains by areas, specialties and my name. Cover all the bases! 

Both! And a lot of names (and extensions) I will never use but neither can anyone else.

.com and location based

Great question, I'm just here for the comments...

Name based if you're Mr./Mrs. moneybags and can create a powerful brand that people can associate you with. Location based is best for the average realtor to rank organically. No need to worry about any potential clients remembering it. If your site is bookmark worthy they'll bookmark it for future use and may even possibly contact you.

we have lots of domain names to cover lots of areas....always .com though.

If we can't get .com we wont buy one of those other variations.

I don't think it matters any more David. Now the browser returns all the results as you type it in.

I use both and have various domains point to my primary ones, one of which is my name and the other a location domain. You should always have your name.com... I've found over the years I have lots of past clients who may suddenly want or need to contact me and they google my ninahollander.com and get hold of me that way. 

I think that is why it's important to built a brand now days, you can always register a domain based on the brand that way it sticks with people. It might not be SEO friendly based on the domain, but you can always get SEO from site content.

I have always used my name for my primary website. It worked for me but may not be the best decision.

It is easier not to pick one over the other.

I have a name based domain name.

If you can location based is the best, but most are taken.

Just our name.  The good location ones "areaRealtor.com" were all taken.  Not a fan of .net, etc. for business.  If it's not .com it might as well not be, but then again I'm an old school techie who still remembers the days when you had to qualify to get a .org or .edu domain and they actually meant something...

There's a whole art/science to selecting domain names. Geography is often recommended or niches. Have several!

Not expecting anyone to type a name but when they are looking at a list of sites, a location url gives them something to identify with. 

There are a lot of options, so having realestate in the url is not so important.

I was thinking it was more the content you put into it that would tickle the search engines.  If you have a local domain name, but never put new or interesting content, you will never rank very high.

 Good morning David. Domain name certainly helps. Traffic is even better and the length of time that you sign up for the domain is good.

I have a few domains using each senerio. Wish I knew the correct answer.

I wold say location should top the list

You buy all domains to have a monopoly on that place...

Location-based. You are correct!

I was with name based.