You listed with someone for a particular reason but then you discover that individual may frequently not even show your property and sometimes never. Hmmmmm. Make a difference? You bet it can.

If you chose your real estate sales person for a reason such as you trust them implicitly or you know they have a great many years of experience, or you learned from a trusted friend or business associate that the real estate person demonstrated unusual dedication, skill or problem-solving ability, then wouldn't it make sense that you'd want to know if they were going to be personally engaged in the process of selling your property, too?

How do you feel when you have planned on dealing with one individual, say your doctor, only to be shunted to someone else because your doctor was too busy that day? Or how about that lawn person who has done your lawn for years and knows all the quirks of the yard and how you like it done and then one day someone totally new shows up saying they replaced your regular person?

Anytime you place your trust and confidence — whether it's your health, property or car — in someone's hands you will feel uncertain if someone else steps in. And so you should, but in real estate it happens all the time.

Take for example a firm that hires new people. You listed with one person because of a strong preference but the company's policy is to allow anyone in the firm to show your property. Now you may have a perfectly good buyer looking at your property with someone brand new to the business, or someone who doesn't like your house for some reason, or someone who is unavailable much of the time dues to other interests. The point is that your property is now being "represented" by people you don't know or who don't have the skills or dedication you expected when you signed with the listing salesperson.

There are skills, dos and don'ts in showing, there is skill and sophistication when it comes to negotiating, there are levels of dedication and commitment that vary considerably among licensees. Make sure you understand what you're getting when you commit to an individual.

Paul Harsch, president and founder of Harsch Associates, a Berkshire County based real estate brokerage firm, is a licensed real estate broker in Massachusetts, New York and Vermont, serving a diverse residential, business, commercial and land client base for 40 years.

Paul Harsch, president and founder of Harsch Associates, a Berkshire County based real estate brokerage firm, is a licensed real estate broker in Massachusetts, New York and Vermont, serving a diverse residential, business, commercial and land client base for 40 years. He has achieved personal career sales exceeding $131 million and company sales from 1979 will top $500 million in 2014. Harsch is a member of the Berkshire, Massachusetts, Southwestern Vermont and National associations of realtors, is a licensed Massachusetts real estate instructor and earned the CRB, CRS, GRI and CBI designations. Harsch is a 1969 graduate of Williams College.

To submit comments, questions or requests for future blog topics write him at paul@harschrealestate.com.