These are the words that my first broker had for me after I closed my first deal. As luck would have it, I was in for quite the ride for my first deal and at times I thought there was no way I could actually get it closed and even worse, there was no one or nowhere I could turn for all of the answers.

It involved foreign terms to me at the time like elevation certificates, flood plains and settlement statements. Most of us who have done this for a while have had transactions where we just thought the changes would never end, but, when my broker told me “every deal was different,” I thought twice before continuing on in my real estate career.

Surely things wouldn’t always be different and if they were, I would never be able to learn enough about how to be a great real estate agent so I might as well quit now!

If you are a new agent, there is no need to have the fear I had. Instead, think of the fact that every deal is different as a blessing. Every new transaction will open up for you new and creative ways to make transactions work.

Even as real estate agents (not brokers) what we are really doing is “brokering” a transaction between a buyer and a seller.

In today’s market, things can often times become more complicated than in the past because of fickle buyers, short sales, foreclosures and wounded sellers who have seen their retirement accounts slide away right alongside the equity in their homes. These situations can make real estate in today’s environment tricky and deals harder to hold together.

Frequently, less than usual situations risk tearing apart transactions that sometimes seem only to be held together by our will. Continue reading this post