Real estate buyers and sellers, please allow me to vent my frustrations with our current real estate market. I invite you to read along and hopefully, get an inside look at some of the problems that are contributing to today's real estate market conditions.

I was just reading a post by Richard Zaretsky titled "Back to Basics-A Review on Short Sales". His post is chock full of more information than I can digest in one sitting. I bookmarked it for future reference. I also sent a link to one of my clients who is facing eminent foreclosure if we can't get a short sale for her ASAP.

Here's the problem I'm having. As a REALTOR®, I want to provide the best possible service to all my clients. But I have my hands full staying abreast of the real estate market and keeping my sellers updated with any current sales and how those sales will affect their real estate values. I also have to constantly update and tweek every web site and blog where I have my listings posted. So although the market is down and sales are few, that doesn't necessarily lessen the amount of work I have to do. It just means my focus is in a different area.

Which brings me to my current problem. The mortgage industry is going through more changes than the real estate industry. There's not enough funding to go around, even for the very few buyers we do have. And the rules of the game are changing by the day. So while real estate sales and real estate financing are closely intertwined, they are still two separate industries. There are agents who hold real estate and mortgage licenses, but they're only going to excel in one field. You can't be an absolute expert in both. I personally want to be an expert in the real estate industry so I can provide my clients with the best possible service. But I've always maintained a basic knowledge of what was happening in the mortgage industry as well. It's only logical that real estate buyers are going to have financing questions while they're going through the buying process. And while I will usually just make a quick phone call to their mortgage broker or lender and hand the phone to them while we're in the field, I still want to be able to answer their basic questions. The same goes for my real estate sellers. I can't help them to understand why they need to price their house or condo aggressively, or explain why properties are taking longer to sell, without explaining the problems that are happening in the mortgage industry as well.

So while I'm providing the mortgage information that I've gleaned from mortgage brokers and lenders, and most importantly, from other mortgage bloggers, I can't help but feel like I'm not providing my real estate sellers with enough information, no matter how hard I try. Of course, blogging is a huge help, when I'm able to forward a link to a post that I know will help my client, but I am admittedly a perfectionist. And my clients are important to me, not just because of a paycheck. But even if I had every answer in the book, real estate buyers and sellers don't have time to listen to it all, nor will they retain that much information. And most of them don't want to know. They just want to buy or sell real estate, and have a smooth transaction. They expect us to handle all the details. But this crazy market is making that increasingly more and more difficult. And most of the difficulties are coming from the mortgage area. That much is evidenced by the infighting and/or disagreements between mortgage brokers. If you really want to see the evidence of that, read Janet Guilbault's post titled "Mortgage Pro Week in Review 4/28 - 5/4: The Envelope Please". Janet took the time to insert a lot of links to the posts of other mortgage experts, with all their differing perspectives.

So I pose the questions to other real estate agents.

• Is it just my own perfectionism, thinking out loud, or are you experiencing similar problems?
  
• Do you feel like you can still provide the best service to your clients, the way you used to, or is the current mortgage climate hindering your efforts?
  
• How are you handling the unique problems that we're now encountering?

Real estate buyers and sellers, if you're interested in moving to the Daytona Beach FL area, make a Smart Choice and call someone who genuinely cares and will turn over every rock to do the best job possible to make your real estate transaction as smooth as possible. Call Lisa Hill with Adams Cameron & Co., REALTORS®.

www.DaytonaBeachRealEstateSales.com