One of the great pleasures that a real estate professional is privileged to experience is the moment when clients walk into the home carefully chosen by their real estate advisor and they say, "Ahh!." They walk around a bit, smiling, and say, "You mean, we can afford this?" They look the entire home over and say, "This is the one! Thank you."

In order to reach this moment, several rational steps must first be taken. We need to know how much the clients can comfortably afford to pay for their home. We need to know how much lenders are willing to loan them. And most important, we need to sit with the clients and listen, long and carefully−finding out what they like (right down to their favorite colors and styles), finding out how they live in their home, finding out what they want their new home to provide.

Armed with this information and a profound awareness of what is then available for sale, a good real estate professional can find the right house−and it's a process that combines the careful sorting of all the data s/he's taken in by listening deeply to his or her clients, a rational appraisal of the situation and a healthy dash of compassionate intuition. Not an easy task, but it's what we get paid for−and the happiness in our clients' reaction to the right home is a large part of the payment! For help with fulfilling your dreams call Beth at (425) 450-5208 and visit her website at www.bethbillington.com.

Beth Billington is a Realtor® with Coldwell Banker Bain in Bellevue, WA.