Nationally and on a local level we've seen an increase in real estate teams. Usually a team starts when one agent has more business than they can handle. And, generally, the first person hired is an administrative support person. If business continues to grow, the agent moves into handling more listings and fewer buyers and hires a buyer's specialist for that piece of the business. Some teams eventually grow to have quite a few buyer specialists. And, in some cases, the original agent assumes a "rainmaker" role and functions more in a business development/management role while others handle the actual real estate transactions.

From a real estate agent's perspective, perhaps the most attractive thing about the team concept is the ability to have someone there to cover your business when you want time off. After all, as a one person company in a 7 day a week business it can be tough to manage those times you need a vacation.

But let's take a minute and talk about what the advantages and disadvantages are for you as the buyer or seller. Typically, when someone who is part of a team is asking for your business they argument is that they can better serve you because they're not spread as thin. There's certainly some truth in that.

But it also depends on the caliber of the individuals on a given team. While the agent at the top of the team is almost certainly a seasoned professional, that's often not true of everyone on the team. In many of the teams operating locally there seems to be a fair amount of turnover. And while the top agent may be the person who initially makes contact with you, after that initial appointment you're unlikely to deal directly with them most of the time.

The other potential down side of a team is that shared responsibilities always has the potential for creating gaps. Hand offs can mean things fall through the cracks.

I'd argue that one great agent may actually serve your interests better than a team if that team is inexperienced and doesn't have good systems in place.

If you're talking to someone about their team, make sure you find out more than just about the the team leader. Who will be working with you on a day to day basis? How much experience do they have? How much access will you have to the team leader?

The truth is either a team or an individual agent can give you spectacular service. It's up to you to ask the right questions and make sure you understand what you're getting when you hire anyone, agent or team.

As always, you need to do your homework!

This is the next piece in our series on how to find the right real estate agent. Today we're going to talk about asking the right questions regarding experience and the amount of business they do.

Ask any potential agent "Is real estate your full time profession?" The average number of transactions for a real estate agent in the US is 4 per year. Obviously, at four transactions no one is paying the bills with just real estate. And realize that 4 is the average! That means there are a lot of agents out there who do substantially fewer transactions!

Now, I'm not saying that a part time agent can't be a good agent. (Or that a full time agent can't be really bad!)However, at just a few transactions a year it's going to take the average REALTOR about 5 years to get the amount of experience that a full time, busy agent gets in one year. That matters because when something goes wrong, it helps to have someone who's seen it before!

And after asking the first question, if you feel the need for further clarification, ask how many transactions the agent did in the previous calendar year.

If you decide to hire an agent with not much experience I would recommend that you meet their broker. The likelihood is that they're going to be dependent on their broker for advice and counsel during the process. And you want to feel that the broker is someone you can trust.

I just got back from a three day conference sponsored by the Women's Council of REALTORS. It's one of the oldest professional organizations in the real estate world, started when the good old boys from the National Association of REALTORS wouldn't allow women to join!

Now women are welcomed into all the organizations and men are also members of WCR!

But I didn't so much want to talk about this organization or conference in particular but rather, why it's good for my customers and clients that I attend such events.

First of all, I learn new things! Sometimes I'll pick up a new marketing strategy that will help me with getting a client's house sold! Sometimes I'll pick up information on fraudulent things that are showing up on contracts and that I need to be aware of. There's always something that ends up benefiting both my clients and myself.

A second reason for going to conferences is to meet other REALTORS from all over the country. This helps my clients when they move to other areas. I often already know someone where they're going. And I can make sure they have an agent who will take good care of them! And, if I don't already know someone, the professional organizations I belong to provide potential agents who may be able to help my client. If I don't know someone I will interview them before sending a client to them. I want to make sure first of all that they're a professional I'd feel good about dealing with. I also want to make sure that in terms of background, personality and specialty they're a good match for my clients. There are agents who specialize in senior citizens. I'm not going to send that young family being relocated across the country to work with that agent. It's just not a good fit.

The goal is, since I can't take care of them myself, to get them the same level of service as if I could!

If you know someone moving out of the area, make sure you ask them how they're choosing their real estate agent in their new location. Throwing darts or choosing randomly from a web site probably isn't the best bet! I'm always happy to help them find the right individual.