I went to preview a listing in Jeffersonton last week. When I got there the owner said she didn't understand the term "previewing". I gathered there hadn't been any yet. That's a little sad since her home had been on the market close to a month.

But I thought she might not be the only seller out there who didn't understand the term as it's used in real estate industry. So I'm going to give a brief explanation.

REALTORS go out to see homes that have been listed for sale, but without actual clients to show it to. So, it's just me coming through the house, or sometimes myself and another colleague.

We do this for several reasons. One is that part of our job is to be familiar with the inventory on the market. If I don't know what's for sale out there and how it's priced it's hard to accurately advise my clients on how to price their listing.

And we do it to help out our colleagues. It is an enormous help to have the opinions of other agents regarding both the price of the house and how well it shows.

And the third reason I do this is that even with all the great photos and virtual tours in the MLS these days, it's still not the same as seeing the home in person. Sometimes, going through a house will spark something in my brain. I'll think of a client who may not have been an obvious fit, but for whom the house could work. Those kind of things happen when you actually go through the rooms and see them for yourself.

I only wish that I, and my colleagues were doing more of this. I will admit that time is at a premium and I don't always get a chance to preview every listing I'd like to. That's especially true now with such a large inventory. Even so, I'm hoping that the owner I talked to last week wasn't typical and that plenty of sellers are seeing plenty of real estate agents roaming through their homes!