Hey here is a question for you. Can you buy or sell a home in Mercer County without it costing you thousands of dollars? Hey, everybody wants to know that, and there are a few things I want you to know. Be sure you hire an experienced real estate agent when you're looking to buy or sell a home.

I'm Fred Gomberg, I'm with Berkshire Hathaway, Fox & Roach of Princeton, and I've got some interesting information I'd like to share with you.

The question is an interesting one, wanting to save money on buying and selling your home, but that still doesn't negate the fact that you should be working with a full-time professional. There are a lot of discount brokers that are out there now. There are a lot of individuals that are out there, and they're all indicating they can save you money. They can list your home for the lowest price.

Well, is that what you really want? The lowest price professional or part-time person working for you? This drives me crazy all the time. I'm not a doctor, but let's say you broke your foot. What are you going to do? You want to go to a professional who handles your foot and ankle? You're not going to go to a back doctor. Doesn't make any sense. And I can speak from real experience about the broken foot, and I can talk to you more about that a little later. But either way, you want to make sure you're going to the person, the professional, that's going to help you and be the specialist in the situation that you need at the time. So hiring a back doctor, is not the answer you're looking for a foot and ankle, specialist.

Let's take that into real estate. You want to work with a professional, a full-time individual. They may not be the lowest price, nor is that surgeon that's working on you the lowest price. But again, your body is the most important thing that you have. The most valuable thing you have. You should look at your home the same way. You wouldn't go to that back doctor; you would go to someone inexperienced in feet and ankles. I'm suggesting that's one of the key things you do when you're working with your real estate. Work with a specialist, a full-time professional who is local and knows your area.

So if you're also looking to find a mortgage, same set of rules. Make sure you're working with a professional. Someone that's familiar with the area and knows the latest programs out there, because if not, that can cost you additional thousands of dollars. You want to make sure you have the marketing behind you, the experience behind you. Another one of the key elements that you're going to want when working with a professional real estate agent is, can they negotiate? And if someone only has, "Hey, I got the lowest price," as my negotiating advantage, if that's all they can offer, I would be very, very leery of that. That's not the only thing you should evaluate or look at when selecting who to work with.

Let's take an example of an attorney. You have some legal problems, which could cost you thousands of dollars plus fines. You could even go to prison. You might even end up bankrupt. Just because you went to the least expensive individual to help you…. now you're in the slammer. Not the right way to go. You want someone who's going to be able to assist you and navigate the best route for you. And that means the attorney you work with should also know what's happening with real estate in and around the area you are buying or selling in  (suggestion use a Real Estate Attorney), working in conjunction with your full-time professional realtor. So, I just want to tell you that these are a few of the key things that you've got to do that will help you save thousands of dollars when buying or selling real estate in Mercer County, NJ. Make sure you're working with professionals.

Who you work with matters. That's right.

I'm Fred Gomberg with Berkshire Hathaway, Fox & Roach Princeton, and I'm here to help you navigate through some of these very, very tough times. But most importantly, you guys stay safe, and I'll catch you on the next update.