So what do you need to know before you talk to a real estate agent or broker to sell or buy your home? This effort is not intended to make you into a real estate agent. It is not meant to give you a bag of tricks to use to try to "stump the chump" when interviewing agents to use when buying or selling a home. What I want you to take from this are simple: first, I want you to know what is going on within both sides of the transaction and why. Second, I want to help you save thousands of dollars when you sell. Third, if you are a buyer, I want you to have a good understanding of your role in the process as well as potentially save you a few thousand dollars. This is important because with this as a guide, you will be able to understand your agent's or your broker's motivation; as well as their worth—or worthlessness. I plan to take you through some rather disturbing "day in the life of" facts, and then lots of discussion about the language that you will encounter. But most of all, I want you to see how much money changes hands and how quickly if you aren't careful. If you dig into this material and superimpose it over your situation, these ideas will help you save literally thousands of dollars. It will also take away almost all of the anxiety generally associated with this size and type of transaction.
