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When selling or buying a home, everyone wants "the best". Why not? We all do and especially when someone is being trusted to handle one of the most important and financially sensitive purchases of your lifetime.

I often wonder what people use as a critiera to determine the best. Is it sales volume? I see that many agents group up as teams so the entire compilation of sales from all of the agents are grouped under one persons name. Or, perhaps, they are not on a team and they handle all of those transactions alone?  Does that make them the best? With 24 hours in a day and many transactions, how much personal  attention can one give a buyer/seller?

Is it "lowest commission?" I would hate to think that as selling a home can very expensive and cutting back on the brokers commission can further eliminate precious marketing activities and the "desire" of the salesperson to go the extra mile.

Honesty, trust, integrity? The Realtor profession is based on ethics and although not everyone is the same, we all say that we have this.

For me, in my purchases, its a compilation of items. One big one is being able to plan ahead and "think outside the box." Here's an example of what I have done recently for a buyer.

My buyer client and his wife were first time buyers. After meeting them at an open house and discussing how I work, they later contacted me and wanted me to be their buyer's agent. Being first timers, we were working with a very limited budget yet, the client wanted all of the "things" in a home that would have put the home in a much higher price bracket.

With the first time buyers credit out there, homes in their price bracket were all going multiple offer and, needless to say, they could not up the ante in order to outbid anyone. What to do?...We had been at this for about 4 months and all parties were getting weary.

In the mean time, I had them prequalified with a local bank so when the deal hit- we were ready!! After much disappointment I reaquainted myself with the definition of insane. Insane is "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting to get a different result."

I did something different.

I told my client, "I have to go find you a For Sale By Owner home. Something underneath the radar screen of Realtors." Finding one can be hard unless you happen to drive by one. I find that the FSBO websites are not up to date and often the homes are sold or are listed by the time you find one on the site.

So I started. Within 24 hours, I found the perfect home for them! All of the amenities, yard, condition- the works AND in their price range. The home was also about $10,000 under market value- YIPPEE!!

We placed an offer on the spot, started the process and were looking forward to closing day. THEN-- the bank decided not to give the mortgage due to some "technicality". We were devastated BUT- I ALWAYS HAVE A PLAN B. So I contacted PLAN B and within 48 hours, we had a mortgage commitment with a different lender for just about the same interest rate.  The client closed and took possession  with the originally scheduled closing date!

Price of the home: $119,000

It's great to have high volume, I suppose.  I am outproducing many agents out there. But- if the agent cannot be prepared, think outside the box" and have a list of "plan B's" in their back pocket- that has to take away from being the "best agent."

Take a look at my web site and read the section  "About Karen and TVH ".( Tech Valley Homes)  These facts plus my proven references may just make me the "best agent" for you.

Contact me and let me see how I can solve your problem.