Perhaps you’d like to take advantage of today’s great buyer’s market in housing but feel a little intimidated by everything that’s involved. You know the routine: finding the right locale and the right house; negotiating an agreement; putting together a down payment; and selecting the best mortgage available.

There are two things you can do to make every step run smoothly.

First -- select a professional agent who will consult with you to determine your particular real estate needs; help you define your financial ability to purchase; explain local real estate procedures; offer / show properties in accordance with Fair Housing Regulations and ethical real estate practices; assist in arranging mortgage financing; keep you thoroughly informed throughout the entire real estate purchase process.

Second -- make your agent your partner in the literal sense of the word, using partnership to be sure that the house you ultimately buy is the home you’ve always wanted.

Making your agent your partner requires choosing an agent you trust both as a person and as a professional. And that’s no small matter! In real estate, as in all areas of business -- as in all aspects of life, actually -- trust can make all the difference in the world.

True partnership is nearly impossible to achieve unless you stick with one agent throughout the buying process. Buy all means you should shop around -- and shop around carefully -- when you’re still deciding which agent to work with. Once you’ve made that decision, however, don’t reverse it unless (and this rarely happens to people who are careful in the first place) something specific happens to make it clear that your choice was unwise.

Partnership status is all the motivation a first-rate agent needs to go all-out in finding houses that suit your needs. And if you’re concerned about what it is you’re looking for and how much house you think you can afford, your agent can save you huge amounts of time and effort.

If you’re not sure how much you can afford, be candid with your agent about that, too. He or she can provide you with some helpful preliminary guidelines and can put you in touch with mortgage lenders who know how to get you focused on an appropriate price range.

It’s always a good idea, as you look at listed homes, to give your agent a lot of feedback on what you’ve seen. Good feedback will refine and sharpen the agent’s understanding of your likes and dislikes, which in turn will make it easier to find the house of your dreams.

The ultimate payoff, once again, is that you get to your goal more quickly, expending less time and less effort along the way.

Anyone who has ever done it this way will assure you of one thing: it pays off