Real Estate Decoded

Buyers are ready to buy! Yet, when we are out on the weekends showing them listings and they see a for sale by owner the first thing they say to their Realtor is... “Lets go there last...” Homeowners sometimes feel they are isolated from the buyer pool and not all Realtors are telling them why.  I am not sure all Real Estate Agents do a good job explaining to homeowners why they are not getting as many offers as homes listed with real estate firms. Perhaps we are so used to for sale by owners thinking we only communicate when we want something, we end up not giving homeowners valuable insight. Recently I have been telling homeowners what they deserve to know. Buyers do not want to “deal” with the owner of a home.  Simply put, It’s awkward for them. How can they walk into someone else’s home and discuss the things they need to discuss out loud in order to make the best decision? Here is an example of what I mean If the buyers hate the color of the bonus room carp...

The Millennial Generation has been coined the generation that refuses to settle down and buy a home since they chronologically reached adulthood. To be fair: at one point or another every generation has been seen as unworthy of or incapable of living up to the last generation.  “The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.” - Socrates 400 B.C And so, our newest generation of adults have their own stereotype. Assumed to not want to purchase a home as they reached an eligible age.  What we are seeing now that Millennials are entering their late twenties and early thirties is they actually do intend on buying homes. But what took them so long? There is a lot of debate on that question. Graduating into a slow job market perhaps? Watching their parents get hit hard by the most recent credit crisis? The more important point is that The Millennial...

The top three professions that find themselves sued are: #1 Lawyers #2 Doctors #3 Realtors The short story behind this...  Due to the nature of the work done by these professionals, conflict is inevitable.  People from all three of these categories take risks . The reason we still avidly uses these service providers is because the risks associated with not using their services are even higher than if don’t! Want to represent yourself in court?  Want to operate on your own Spleen? Probably not. In fact if you ask those questions of anyone they will likely laugh. So why is it that when it comes to buying and selling Real Estate people do not laugh when ask if they want to buy and sell their own home? The reason is they do not see the same degree of risk involved. Unfortunately by the time people find out that the risk can be scary... The damage has been done. The first mistake when selling or buying a home is attempting to do that unrepresented. The second mistake is the de...

As a homeowner (or buyer) under contract with other people, you need to know when things have gotten too personal and are threatening your deal.  Here is a secret... Your Realtor wants to be able to fix any and all conflicts that arise for you, but this is one thing they can not fix on your behalf. When things get personal: The rules of competition turn grey when a negotiation gets personal . Competition works best when all people involved are competing to deliver a fair deal. When things begin to feel unfair to one or both parties, people take the unfairness personal. Competition can be perceived as spite rather than a fair when ultimatums are felt. When a competition begins to feel like a fight, it is a fight. Most likely it is a pride fight because of the blatant unfairness presented by one party to the other. The unfairness is of course a matter of perspective but that is usually all that is needed for it to be a reality for those involved. Pride fights go as follows for most o...

 King Henry VIII   You want your Real Estate Broker to be a leader. You want them taken seriously as they negotiate over the largest investment of your life. But what happens if your Broker is not coming off as a leader, but a bully instead? The other side pushes back. And ultimately... You the buyer or homeowner could lose the deal. Here is how to avoid picking the WRONG Realtor:   When you buy or sell a home, you and your Real Estate agent are usually seen as one unit by the other people involved in the deal. You want to be seen as authoritative as a unit, while being cautious of the nature of your collective authority feels permissible and welcomed. When your Realtor asserts themselves, here are the outcome scenarios: #1. The people on the receiving end of the deal decide yes they will happily oblige and do what you have ask them to do because they feel a sense of fairness in what your Realtor has ask of them. #2.   The people reluctantly decide to do what your ...

When negotiating over the sales price of a home, a good Realtor will be the one who is comfortable with the conversation. "Who starts the negotiation?" is a question clients have ask me over the years. How does a negotiation conversation actually begins. A homeowner (or future homeowner's)thought process is usually similar to the following: 1.Who will disclose information first? 2.Is it wise to be the one who begins the conversation? The person who speaks first in any situation that involves negotiating tends to be... Someone who understands how to build trust. Someone who is comfortable with defining trust. Someone who is trusted by other people currently and honors what it means to be trusted. And finally... Someone who is comfortable with being uncomfortable.   When you partner with a Realtor during your next move, make sure you ask them how they handle uncomfortable situations. Their answer to this question will become very important at some point in the transactio...

Maybe the answers for how we can all live and work together are not going to be found by deciding who or what group has the right answers. Perhaps a better way to go about any interaction is to soak in as much of another persons perspective as possible prior to asking for anything. After all, very few wars get started because everyone relentlessly wanted to understand each other... If we could only let go of the misconception that attempting to understand each other must mean that someone has to admit they are wrong. To understand does not mean to agree . If anything, it means to give dignity to everyone's opinion. Once all opinions are heard the best answer might just be a co-created one...  I hope to always deliver this kind of service through my work. Being competitive is important, but it is never more important than the ability to also cooperate. "I believe what really happens in history is this: the old man is always wrong; and the young people are always wrong ab...