Home talk with Brenda Kolbrich & Tracy Canning

Brenda: The importance of working with a very experienced, full-time realtor to handle the selling of your home in this market is crucial. And equally as important, is working with a very experienced buyer’s agent who can handle your home-buying process. With all the short sales, foreclosures and the new 11-page real estate contract, a realtor really has to know the business.

Tracy: I agree, and a realtor has to keep up constantly with the changing guidelines for distressed properties, lending guidelines and the ever-changing market. It’s also important to interview your potential real estate agent. Ask a lot of questions. Make sure that they know the neighborhood in which you live. Know their success record and their ability and credentials in dealing with distressed properties. In this market, it is so important to hire an agent who has been around, built a good reputation for themselves, has multiple contacts and has made selling real estate their No. 1 job and priority.

Brenda: Our fellow real estate agents are also our customers, and it is so nice when we get to do transactions with experienced realtors like ourselves. The process for the buyer and seller goes much more smoothly when you have experience on each side. Short sales really require a realtor who has the in-depth knowledge of the short sale process, which is quite involved. Even if the short sale is managed by a third party, like an attorney, the realtor needs to be on top of the third party to ensure the short sale is being handled correctly.

Tracy: In a tough economy, such as we have now, there are so many short sales and more are expected in 2011. And there are numerous hardships we as realtors hear all the time as the reasons why property owners need to sell. I am certified as a Distressed Property Expert, and I am available to answer any of your real estate questions. And if you have questions that an attorney needs to answer, I have a full-time attorney in my office who will answer any of your short sale questions at no charge. (Karen Spell Esq. 407-306-0454.) We understand that this is a very difficult issue for most homeowners to face, and we are here to assess your situation and guide you through the entire process.

Brenda: I’ve been honored for the past two years with awards for Best in Client Satisfaction by Home Buyer’s magazine. This is like a “people’s” choice award in real estate, which really means a lot to me. So many realtors have left the business in the past four years, but you and I have shifted our business and have excelled in a very tough market. The Orlando Regional Realtor Association’s membership high was 12,668 in 2007. Membership now stands at 8,804. Of the 8,804 member agents, only 1,400 participated in 12 or more transactions in 2010. Tracy, you and I were involved in more than 20 transactions each this year so we are definitely in the top percentage of our board. We are passionate about real estate and passionate about taking good care of our clients, which is the key.

Brenda Kolbrich can be reached at 407-963-6876 or [email protected]

Tracy Canning can be reached at 407-484-7978 or www.tracycanning.com