If this pause in an aggressive real estate market is anything like those I have experienced in my long career, more and more sellers will try to go it alone.  Go it without the assistance of knowledgeable, seasoned real estate professionals, that is.

            And many of those who do consider using a real estate company as their representative will want them to cut their normal commission schedule for them.  Do it cheaper.

            The rational in both instances, of course, is the fear that the house will not bring the price that the owner is confident it would have brought in the recent past.  So, they want to recover some of that perceived net loss through commission savings.

            On the other side, with business falling off, many real estate companies and sales people find it hard to continue to fund their marketing and advertising budgets, so they cut back. 

             They must especially cut back their marketing if they have agreed to work for less commission bucks.

            On top of this, many brokers, rather than recognize the inevitable, will keep unseasoned, untrained agents in the stables, and watch them blow one potential listing and sale after another, further deteriorating their agency's bottom line, but more importantly, not providing clients with their best. 

            Those youngsters could sell and close when all they were responsible for was taking orders, but often they are totally unprepared to succeed in this environment that's new to them.

            Every one of these scenarios, individually or working in concert with one or two of the others, dramatically injures sales opportunities.  I find it interesting that many sellers and many brokers voluntarily put themselves in these traps.

            Those who plan to sell their own homes as well as agents who are listing homes must be totally committed to asking and looking for the answer to this question everyday:  "What must I do today to come closer to finding a buyer for this property?"  And then they have to be willing to do it.

             At Bill Cherry, Realtors, we continue to remain focused, and we pull out all stops when it comes to listing, finding buyers, and getting sales closed.  It's times like these, after all, when all of us are put to the test.  We'll pass it as we have every other time during our 43 years representing Texas.

GOD Blesses!