While it's true that Real Estate is conducted every day of the year (for SOMEONE) when it's YOUR move ... well, you simply don't buy or sell a home every day!  With today's challenging market conditions, and with so many changes in real estate practices, how are you to know what's your own best course of action to protect your interests and "level the playing field"!  There are lots of alternatives available when buying or selling a home, and the differences between those alternatives are generally not apparent - often until it's too late. You deserve choices. But even more important, you deserve to know what the potential risks and benefits of those choices really are, and how those differences can impact you!  We all know that just because something is expensive doesn't necessarily mean it's good ... and just because something looks like a "great deal" doesn't necessarily mean it's anything more than cheap!  And when it's the largest financial transaction you've likely ever had in your life, you owe it to yourself to understand the differences!

The time has come for a different kind of real estate option - one that gives Buyers & Sellers alike Real Choice in the particular services they need and how they can pay for them! In other words, the one size fits all approach to real estate (ie, paying a percentage of sale price in a real estate transaction) doesn't always make sense. 

Ask yourself a few questions: 

• When you ask an agent to help you decide whether it would be best to improve your current home or sell it and move to another, how confident can you be in their objectivity when the their prospect for getting paid is determined by whether or not you choose to move? 
  
• When you request that "free CMA" (comparative market analyses), how much can you rely on the numbers they give you when the decision as to whether to move or not is generally based on the numbers give you? In other words, the agent only has a potential of getting paid at all when you think the numbers work for you. 
  
• Even worse, when you want to comparison shop between several agents, how confident can you be that all of the agents you interview are providing a totally unbiased evaluation on your home and your options when they are in competition for even a potential of a paycheck? 
  
• Or what if you already found a buyer for your home (or already found a home to buy!) and just need someone fully protecting your interests in helping you create the sales/purchase contract, negotiating on your behalf, and then monitoring and troubleshooting that contract through to closing? Even in areas where real estate attorneys are common practice, what even the best attorney does is not the same as what an agent brings to the table! The attorney is not in a position to evaluate current competition, current market conditions, the specifics of your property, and how those specifics impact the terms of your contract. And what if the buyer has a home to sell or close prior to closing this new purchase? How viable is that sale? 
  
• And what if your particular needs don't involve a real estate "transaction" at all. What if you're considering some major improvements on your home (like putting up an addition, or a major remodel), who would you call to find out what the impact of those improvements would be on your home's "market value"? The reality is the personal to ask is not the remodeler.  

Today's consumer has access to huge volumes of information and data thanks to the internet. The challenge is not in gathering that information (though that can certainly be overwhelming!) The real challenge is in syphoning out which of the information is correct and meaningful for your particular needs, and interpreting the information as it applies to your specific circumstance. 

No website, large or small, can take the place of an experienced real estate professional. Not even mine! Websites are great for providing "data", but they simply cannot interpret that information in a meaningful way and help you apply that interpretation to your own specific circumstance. And, as an ACRE® (Accredited Consultant in Real Estate), I'm committed to helping you determine what information and resources are most meaningful for your situation and pocketbook. For more information on this new and innovative approach to real estate and how it might benefit you, you're going to want to look at this.