Besides driving them around and letting them into houses, my clients expect me to have the answers to their questions.  This usually means that I have to preview weekly to stay current on the local market.  This way I am able to talk about how this or that home compares to another and to communicate pricing effectively.

Great Point!  Market knowledge and statistics was on the list froim yewsterdays post.  I recieved this comment on another blog.......

"...excellent information. May I add that one also needs to be careful not to fall into the trap of feeling like you "owe" the real estate agent anything for helping you. Selling homes is their business and though you may be grateful, you certainly don't have to fawn over them as many do when a sale is made."

Are we really resorting to guilt to get our clients to buy a home?

There is a post somewhere on Active Rain that I read recently that does an excellent job spelling out what a buyers broker does to earn his money;

1) location knowledge.
The agent should be able to select the right location for the buyer based on the buyers needs ie, know your service area and know your client,

2)negotiation skill
a skilled agent can save their customer more here than the commission.

3) closing facilitation
Thats the after contract work that needs to be dont to move a deal from contract to closing

 That same post I referred to above, also discussed the risk involved in our business. Everyone we work with does not result in a commission. Our commission structure is designed so that the deals that do close compensate us for those that dont. The feeling that we are entitled to a commission everytime we help someone or that we got cheated when a client changes their mind or decides that they are more comfortable with another agent is just wrong. But thats another rant and should be the subject of a post of my own.