Why use a REALTOR®

You know there are a lot of people that think it's a good idea to save their X% and represent themselves in a real estate transaction. I think that the real estate community has brought this on, in large part, by making it too easy to get a real estate license and although brokers are responsible for the actions of their agents, many of them have no idea (and don't care) what the agent is doing.

Just the other night we were watching a show about first time buyers. An agent was giving incredibly bad advice to his client, and was proud of it. His poor client has no idea how badly she was represented - all she knows is that she got the condo she really wanted. I hope that when the broker watched the show that he or she spent some serious time working with that agent.

I also often think about a former client and friend who followed all of my advice in getting prequalified, accepted my education about the market and the process, then called me up to tell me he had just written an offer on a new construction home directly with the builder. He said he was going to call me but figured it would be better to save the commission. Poor fella. I could have saved him a lot of money and heart ache, but, at least he saved about $4500. (My short calculations show that I could have saved him about $18,000....roll out the 4500 I would have made, then plug it in to a mortgage calculator to see how long he'll be paying interest on what I would have saved him). I'll write an entry some day with more details and show the breakdown that puts dollars with the mistake for a better illustration.

The bottom line is the public really does benefit from the work of a talented, professional REALTOR®.

Check out this piece put together by the National Association of REALTORS® for some other things to consider about working with a professional vs. trying to represent yourself.