I recently represented a couple who purchased a beautiful $400,000 home. The Sellers of that property had hired a childhood friend who got her real estate license just three months before. Although I am sure that the decision to hire their friend made sense on a personal level it ultimately cost them a lot of money.

During contract negotiations, the Seller's agent revealed to us that her clients had made a commitment to buy a new home from a builder. She also told us that the builder was demanding that her clients find a buyer for their home or else the builder would cancel the sale of the new home. The deadline to find a buyer was the next day. We interpreted this to mean that the Sellers were in a tough spot so we made an aggressively low offer. The Sellers put up very little resistance and my clients got the home for at least $7,500 less than what they were willing to pay.

Later, during the inspection negotiations, my clients, believing that the Sellers' were still in a tough spot, took the same aggressive position to negotiate repair concessions. Again, the Sellers conceded; costing them $1,500 more than the Buyers would have otherwise expected.

Lastly, because the Sellers believed that their Agent had done things to jeopardize the deal, they made a final concession worth approximately $2,000 in order to save the sale.

I doubt that the Sellers know that their Agent shared "insider information” with us which ultimately cost them over $10,000. For that matter I doubt that the Ag

For years real estate sales have been booming and it seems that everyone is racing to get their license in order to get a piece of "the easy money.” I assure you there is nothing easy about this business. Buyers and Sellers should hire knowledgeable and experienced agents to represent them. Although the length of time an agent has had his or her license is no indication of their skill or experience level it's certainly worth checking out. You can usually learn how long an agent has had his or her license by visiting your state regulating body.