Berkshire property valuation is a daily task of Berkshire real estate agents.  The Berkshire home seller first wants to know "how much is my property worth"?  And that brings me to one of the most common laws of physics.

Newton's law of motion states that a body in motion tends to remain in motion unless acted upon by another force e.g. gravity, friction, etc.

This same rule applies to the value of Berkshire real estate. Rising values, a state most sellers had come to more or less "accept" as a given in real estate through 2007, sometimes rising faster and sometimes slower, gave way suddenly to massive systemic reversal.

My own real estate

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How often have you heard these next statements.  Real estate agents don't do anything that I cannot do myself. Real estate agents don't do anything but get you to sign a listing form and then forget about you.  You never hear from them after you sign the paper.  I can save myself loads of money buy selling my Berkshires home myself.

How many times have you heard friends and family say this when they are considering selling a Berkshires property? I am betting more times than you can count on one hand. 

Selling your property online on Craig's list or through an assist to sell "for sale by owner agency" or a FSBO website for a

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If a seller places their property for sale on the market they absolutely want to sell.

Right?

Maybe.

Hiring a realtor, putting out the "for sale" sign, placing a "multiple listing service" entry, requesting that the agent do serious advertising and expecting the agent to schedule open houses all are part of placing a home on the market.   

Right?

Absolutely.

All of the above activities indicate the owner wants to sell the property. Now comes the Catch 22.  The seller "must" have a certain price for their property. The individual reasons for selling a property are as diverse as the number of fish in the sea. A few

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Did I get your attention? I hope so because nothing could be further from the truth. Unfortunately some people make their decisions on who to list with or which real estate licensee to use to assist them in purchasing with about as much thought and care as buying a loaf of bread.

The purchase of a home for example, we are often reminded, is the single largest purchase in most people's lives ranging anywhere from tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds or even occasionally millions of dollars.

Why is it then that some people give about as much thought into which real estate licensee to use as they do which brand of milk to purchase?  After all, they may reason, milk is

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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

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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.