One of my martial arts instructors sent me the following quote a while back: 

    "Fear is your friend, panic is your enemy.  Fear will help you get to your goal faster.  Panic will either shut you down     or send you down an inappropriate course of action for the situation.  Unfortunately 'fear' has a bad rap.  It has been         confused with panic in many self-defense programs, and the resulting goal is to train for 'no fear', this is a mistake!          Fear is a motivational message.  Even under frightening conditions, a person with enough experience and the             proper training can act and accomplish complex processes."

There's a lot of fear out there right now among homebuyers, homesellers, and people sitting on the fence deciding what to do in the current real estate market.  Mortgage meltdown, liquidity crisis, Bear Stearns collapse, emergency interest rate drops, foreclosures, short sales, media reports -- all these things weigh on the psyche of those pondering the real estate market.

Don't let your fear turn into panic!  Fear is healthy.  It forces you to get educated.  Fear motivates you to find knowledgeable advisors, trusted friends, and to avoid scary situations like walking down a dark alley alone.  Fear puts you on guard and may entice you to learn a new skill.  Fear prevents you from doing stupid things.

We do live in a sometimes scary world.  My wife motivated, encouraged, begged and pleaded with me to learn martial arts to increase our combined confidence when walking down the streets.  Over two years of study has made me aware of my environment, confident that I can protect both of us should any compromising situation arise.  We are both more secure because I have diligently studied martial arts (in my case Krav Maga and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu).

Fear prevents panic.  Fear prevents irrational thought and actions.  As the quote cautions, don't confuse fear with panic.

Realize that it is not necessary to go it alone when navigating the sometimes scary and confusing complex world of real estate.  Real estate contracts are legal documents with 20 or more pages of small and detailed legal wording.  Buying or selling a home requires knowledge of a whole new vocabulary of jargon -- from appraisals and ARMs to warranties, zoning ordinances, and everything in between. 

You work a full-time job.  You don't need the added job of struggling on your own to buy or sell a home. 

My full-time career is helping people buy and sell real estate in Northern Virginia and Washington D.C.

Don't let fear turn into panic.  I'll help protect you when it comes to your biggest investment.  If you want, I'll even show you how to throw a mean right hook.