There's nothing I would rather do than sell your house -- actually, to help YOU sell it -- because until you sell it I'm working for nothing. My commission is the only pay I get no matter how much time I devote to you and your property. So, of course, like you I want to sell the house and get a check.

  If it were totally up to me, we probably would have sold your house already. But it's not. There are some things I can't control, such as:

  The house. Is the house inviting and attractive? When prospective buyers first drive up to your house, before they get out of their car, do they get a good impression? When they first enter your house are they eager to see more, or silently wish they had passed it by? Is it clean and neat, free of clutter, free of pet odors or food odors? Are the kitchen and bathrooms sparkling? Unless you can answer yes to these questions, your house is not ready to be shown. I have no control over your house.

  The price. Is your asking price competitive? Is your house priced to sell? Please keep in mind, your house is competing with many others similar to yours in some basic ways. Buyers may look at a dozen or more houses before making an offer on one of them. No one expects you to "give it away," but if your house is not priced competitively it may not make it onto a buyer's short list. As your REALTOR I know what similar properties are selling for, and what you can reasonably expect to get for yours, but I have no control over your asking price.

  The market. We are in the worst real estate market in the memory of most agents. The market is flooded with foreclosed properties, all of them competing with yours for a buyer. Some of them are selling for much less than they would in a market where supply and demand are in balance. Those days are gone for the foreseeable future, a fact we just have to get used to. But, let's say, you need to sell your house. Your real estate agent wants to help you get the best price for it (because his or her commission is based on your selling price). However, the eventual selling price is not necessarily what we WANT it to be but what the market determines it to be. I'll try to find a buyer for your house, but I have no control over the market.

  In fact, neither of us controls the real estate market. You can control your house and your asking price, but not the market. Your agent is as much a victim of a down market as you are. Working together, we just have to make the best of a bad situation. Fortunately, here in the Americus and Sumter County area some property is changing ownership. The market may not be what we experienced years ago when it was brisk, but it's not dead either. At least some property that is priced to sell is selling. Property that's not priced to sell isn't selling.

  When a REALTOR can bring together a motivated seller and a qualified buyer, things happen. In that case, the REALTOR has some control over the process. That's when real estate gets sold.