What are the common problems and concerns small business have when hiring a website designer/developer? Please share, I would like to know your experiences.

I run marketing for a design/dev shop - but from what I hear from people I speak with, it's:

turnaround time
trust they will do the job right
will they flake out and never get a finished product?
quality of the work

Thanks for sharing. I really appreciate it.

Shane, my biggest concern was that there was a HUGE disconnect between what I wanted to be done and what was actually performed (mostly due to the fact that my designer outsourced most of the 'design' part to the Philippines, so there was a big gap in the translation - I didn't know this until it was too late).

There are a number of talented designers out there, be diligent and thorough as you vet out your web developer/designer and you will be fine. Best of luck.

Thank you for Sharing Maui. I agree that there's a lot of talented designers out there, and there are a lot hackers too. And its really hard to trust some of them.

You'll want to go with a web design and development firm who has experience working within the real estate industry. Make sure to realize that building a website and posting it online is just the first step in the process. Unless you promote your site it will never be found.

I agree.. going with an actual firm is the way to go. Sometimes "freelance" web designers are just people that design websites in their spare time/ for fun. It is better to go with a firm who will be 100% dedicated to you as a client.