YOU ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR...OR DO YOU?

All of us have a few axioms, mostly taught to us by our well-meaning mothers, which have served us well as we've grown from childhood to adolescence to young adulthood to middle age to, well, you know . . .



My mother had a theme which ran along the lines of "Get your college education and become a teacher so you'll have summers off." I followed this instruction, which had long before become part of my subconscious, graduating from college and become a teacher--but NOT in one of those schools which have the summers off. No . . . I became a teacher in adult vocational-technical education. These schools DO NOT have summers off!!



I remember mother's advice about marriage, too: "Don't marry a man unless he has a college education." Again, being the ever-dutiful daughter, I married a man whom I was certain had a college degree. Life bounced happily along, two children were born, and then one day without warning. . . my college-educated husband announced, "I'd like to become an engineer." And so he did, with me working full time while he was "Mr. Mom" and a full-time college student (for the 2nd time), finally graduating as an engineer a few years later.



Which brings me to one of those sayings I've heard over and over again: You Always Get What You Pay For. By and large, I believe this to be true, although there are certainly exceptions like those in the illustrations above.



In my chosen career as a professional REALTOR, I'm seeing new "business models" evolve in our industry, giving consumers choices based on price and service. This allows consumers who wish to buy or sell real estate the opportunity to "Get What You Pay For," so to speak.



There are several commodities, however, that I've yet to see on a price list of real estate services--Knowledge, Experience, Professionalism, Wisdom, Integrity--for instance. These are the traits all of us would hope to find in any professional we hire, whether it be a CPA, an air conditioning technician, an attorney, a child care provider, or a REALTOR. When you hire a real estate professional who possesses these traits, you not only get what you pay for--you actually get much, much more, for these traits are indeed priceless.



Choices in real estate companies, agents, and business models are great. When you choose a professional REALTOR who possesses knowledge, experience, wisdom, and integrity, you might very well get MORE than you pay for! I'm sure my mom would agree.