What is the strongest skill your Realtor should have?

Is it the ability to market your property?  The number of years experience the Realtor has?  The number of transactions in the past year?  Actually, it’s how well your Realtor listens to you and communicates with you throughout the process of listing or selling you a home.  And, it’s their ability to negotiate with you and prospective buyers/sellers.

Why is this so important?

For many reasons that are both obvious and not so obvious.  A successful Realtor is involved in the details of buying or selling real property on a daily basis.  You’re not.  You want to work with someone who will listen carefully to your questions and answer them in a timely and detailed fashion.  The current real estate contract has a 17 day rescission period during which a buyer will inspect, investigate and evaluate your home.  You need to have someone who is on top of this process, negotiating solutions for termite work, roof work, chimney work, physical inspection items, escrow periods, times frames, costs, etc.  Each of these requires a real estate professional that listens to you and negotiates in your very best interest.