Consider the morass of ever-changing details and acronyms that most people-agents and consumers-were only vaguely aware of a few years ago and now the terms have taken center stage. There’s Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, FHA, short sales, foreclosures, bank owned, and purchase-rehab loans, to name a few.

Potential buyers and sellers may do much of their house hunting and pricing research online but when they plunk themselves down in the agent’s office, they’re expecting the agent to guide them through it all.

As a result, savvy agents say they’re busy, not necessarily with customers, but with keeping up with the changes so they can best counsel those clients who do come through the door. The effort is one of self-preservation as much as altruism. With fortunes shrinking in such a word-of-mouth driven business, the agents who can provide the best service to customers will survive the housing industry’s downturn.

When the boom hit in 2005 people couldn’t keep up. All you knew is that everyone wanted to buy quickly. It was more a matter of juggling the contracts. It wasn’t helping educate them so they can make an informed decision.

Today I am seeing a turnaround with the agents that they realize they need to relearn their craft. For the first 18 months (of the housing downturn), everyone was in denial, including the most of the Realtors.  At some offices, the weekly sales meetings now are more akin to business meetings. It’s not just about sales volume and listings but about real-time market conditions, the local and national economy and mortgage programs. Outsiders like loan officers attend to give briefings on the mortgage marketplace.

The real estate agent of 10 years ago is not the real estate agent of today.  We’ve become a resource for our sellers, rather than you just hire us to sell. The agents today know they have to come to the table prepared and if they don’t, it’s a major challenge for them and they’ll have a hard time remaining in this business.

Much of the current focus is on Federal Housing Administration-insured loans, which have gone from a little-used tool to a key mortgage instrument, particularly for first-time buyers because of its low down payment requirements.  Better informed agents find they’re not just counseling today’s buyers but are working with tomorrow’s potential clients, too.

We recently worked with a potential buyer who walked in wanting to buy a house. We never went out to look at listings because we determined what kind of monthly payment he could afford and set his price range. Then we sent the buyer home with a list of things to do to establish a good credit record. This buyer may not really enter the market as a buyer until next year.  We took what could have been major frustration for the buyer and turned it into constructive action items so they could be in a position to buy sooner rather that later and that is a big improvement over not being able to buy at all.

Our buyers and sellers have much more information available to them today, not all of it germain to their goals or their specific situation.  It’s incombant on the REALTOR® to stay educated on the market and industry trends so we can provide the best possible information to the buyer or seller so they can make an informed decision.  We have to now counsel our clients’.  Before, most agents were just salespeople. You bring it, we sell it. Now the best agents make sure they have the knowledge and skills to take on the fiduciary responsibility we have to our buyers and sellers.