"Michael" wanted to know how long he can expect to sell his home in today's economy.

Kevin Kieffer, a Northern California agent with Keller Williams Realty, explained a well-priced, well-prepared and staged property can sell within weeks, longer for more expensive properties. In the San Francisco Bay Area, homes priced $500,000 and below sell quickly, but as the price increases so does selling time.

"Mary" asked if there was a way to get the $8,000 first-time home buyers federal tax credit in advance to use toward down payment and closing costs.

Allan Glass, a broker at ASG Real Estate in Los Angeles told her yes, she could, through the Independent Cities Finance Authority's short-term loan which is paid off when a qualified buyer receives his or her tax credit from the federal government.

Got a question?

Ask a Realtor.

Sponsored by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and launched by Realtor.com, "Ask a Realtor" offers homeowners, sellers and buyers a forum to get professional answers to real estate questions from local Realtors who know and understand the local market.

"The concept is great," said Sandy Haney, CEO of the Monterey County Association of Realtors.

"Real estate is local and in Monterey County we have micro markets. We are looking to see if we can get involved in this," she added.

It's free, it's anonymous and only licensed real estate professionals do the answering.

As is the case with most question-and-answer services, the answers are general in nature, and not based on knowledge about your specific circumstances.

For information specific to you, it may be necessary to follow up with verified information based on your personal circumstances.

The answers can, however, can get you pointed in the right direction if you are buying, selling, refinancing or just troubled by some homeownership issue.

Participating San Francisco Bay Area Realtor, Kevin R.

Kieffer says, "Ask a Realtor is a great way for anyone to ask questions about our real estate market and to connect with a Realtor who has local experience and connections."

Questions can be on any real estate-related topic ranging from local market trends, mortgages and home values to buying, selling, home inspections and more.

"I like the concept. People want to gather information without feeling trapped," said Kim DiBenedetto, president of the Monterey County Association of Realtors.

"If you haven't started working with a Realtor yet, it may be a more comfortable to get your information online without being obligated to anyone," added DiBenedetto, also an agent with Coldwell Banker Del Monte Realty in Carmel.

Questions are forwarded to a local participating Realtor or to a professional specializing in the area of expertise most relevant to your question.

Answers are emailed directly to you, with some of them posted on the homepage of Realtor.com Blogs for anyone to peruse.

Questions and answers are also searchable and archived on site and listed chronologically and by subject, for future reference in the knowledgebase.

"Ask a Realtor creates an informal yet highly informative, free service for anyone interested in or involved in real estate," said Realtor.com President Errol Samuelson.

"Because homeownership is often one of the biggest investments consumers make in their lives, Ask a Realtor was developed to help people navigate real estate, establish relationships with local Realtors, and as a convenient method to ask questions that'll be answered by licensed professionals with hands-on experience in the local market," Samuelson added.

Published: October 29, 2009

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Broderick Perkins parlayed a 30-year career in old-school journalism into a digital-age news service offering editorial content and related consulting services. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based content provider specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and consulting. An open house for news that really hits home, the DeadlineNews Group includes the umbrella website DeadlineNews.com the flagship blog Deadline Newsroom, and three Examiner.com outposts -- Real Estate News Examiner; Consumer News Examiner; and Offbeat News Examiner. Along with a decade of work here with Realty Times, Perkins also provides content for Silicon Valley based ERate.com and the new AOLNews.com, where now "You've got news....that really hits home." His current work can also be found in Californian publications, the San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco's The Registry and the Salinas Californian. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News, before launching DeadlineNews Group. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Nolo.com among more than four dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins served as chief editorial consultant for "Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home."