Brant Douglass asked:




There are a plethora of Realtor blog posts on the internet, just do a search and you can read a great number of interesting articles about home selling and buying and home staging; but dig a little deeper and you can also find realtors with blog posts up with articles and jokes that are racist, religion-bashing/atheist-bashing, anti-gay, and political party bashing. This is a disturbing trend, no matter how you look at it.

As realtors, we counsel our clients to stage their homes in a neutral way to help prospective buyers picture themselves in a home but we should also take this advice to heart when we’re putting our opinions out in a public forum with our name attached to them. Just as a client with a home for sale might have very strong views on politics or religion, so might you as a realtor; just as we would be best advise a client to keep those strong opinions to themselves, we would do well to do the same when talking to prospective clients or in an online forum.

If a prospective client is looking for information about local realtors, many of them look to the internet as a source of information to base their decisions on. The internet is a great place to start when clients are looking to find someone to represent them in the house buying or selling process, after all.

It’s surprisingly easy to find an assortment of blog posts from realtors that convey a staggering array of very thinly veiled racism, stifling religious and political fundamentalism, and sexism. While this is all perfectly within your free-speech rights, it’s a pretty terrible business choice to post this in a professional public place with your name on it! While some people might feel a connection to a realtor because they come across like an ethnocentric misogynist, it’s far more likely that expressing these opinions will cost you clients than gain them.

Remember that your blog should reflect who you are as a professional and does not need to include every opinion you have about the world and the types of people living in it. The key here is to be professional; if you want to tell your friends what you think about some certain politician or ethnic group then by all means do that privately, but ranting about politics or religious groups on your blog with your picture, name, and realtor status attached to it is tacky and unprofessional. Remember that people in this country can be from any ethnic group or religion or gender and it makes good business sense to not alienate prospective clients.

Sarah Dupuis asked:


Many people ask why they should use a realtor instead of selling a home or buying a home themselves. The answer is simple. An estate agent is a trained professional real estate experience and knowledge of the local property market. This experience and knowledge is of critical value when you're trying to get the most for your home sale, or to find the best deal when buying a home. However, the importance of estate agents goes much deeper than that, there are several more areas that the capabilities of real estate agents come into play that are often unconsidered or overlooked. One of the most important things a realtor can do for you, especially when selling your home is concerned, it provides coverage of marketing and market. This is a difficult undertaking on their own for many reasons. First, a real estate agent usually has a pre-established presence of the fabric. The website of estate agents is a great place to find the info on homes that are available, the information about the community and mortgage options. Your home will be featured prominently on this website, showing your home to an enormous market. Other aspects of marketing a real estate agent provides include such things as newspaper ads, open houses, flyers and packages Info Real estate agents have a higher budget to spend on marketing a home, and experience to do so. They also have an established network of contacts, usually buyer 's agents This means your network will bring more prospective buyers to your home. When buying a home essentially a real estate agent will do the legwork for you. Reporting what you are looking for in a home you can save valuable time. An estate agent can sort through the homes that are available and select only the homes that fit your needs, lifestyle and budget. They also have important information regarding the area, neighborhood, and homes in the question. Estate agents can also arrange and lead inspections with the inspector so that you remain as informed in the process as possible. Another important aspect of both sales and purchases where a realtor 's knowledge is invaluable is during the closing of a home. This is easily the most complicated part of a transaction many FSBO sellers and buyers have discovered. The real estate contracts are intricately involved documents that require an understanding not only of the contracts process, but real estate law as well. A typical closing will involve more than the estate agent, lawyers and notaries play an important role in the transfer of a home from one owner to another. Estate agents are trained in the art of home sales contracts and generally have an established group of lawyers and notaries who used to make the whole process easier on the buyer or seller. Do you leave a car mechanic to fix your piano? Does not make much sense does it? For the same reason you should seek the services of a professional real estate agent when buying or selling a home. His experience, knowledge and professionalism will save you time, money, and most importantly the nervousness of wondering if everything was done properly and in accordance with law and practice.

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