Nothing Personal…It’s Business!
You’ve lovingly taken care of your house for years, have loads of memories, plans for your future and you assume that all these factors will add value for a buyer. Or you’re a buyer and while the neighborhood you like is a little out of your price range, you want to write offers because you grew up there and want your children to have the same experience. Here’s the problem…if you are the buyer, the seller isn’t interested in your story and sellers, a buyer doesn’t really care about the sentimental attachment to your home. In short, buying or selling a home is a business transaction pure and simple.
The same principles of supply and demand apply whether buying toothpaste or a home. This means that market conditions will have much more to do with what you can sell something for than say, the granite counter tops in the kitchen. If there are loads of homes with those same counters then yours are nothing special, a buyer will not pay more for them. If you are a buyer in a certain price range and there are loads of other buyers, a seller isn’t going to give it away because it’s something you really, really want.
When making your real estate decisions you need to look at the cold facts. While a house is thought of as something so much more than an investment, it’s that aspect to focus on when it comes to a real estate transaction. It is CRITICAL that you take the emotion out of the transaction, as they can steer you in the wrong direction and cost thousands of dollars. There are many Realtors, myself included, who can tell stories of clients who made decisions because they “felt” a certain way or “needed” a certain thing, without being able to support their stance with current market conditions. Just recently a “For Sale” sign went up on a property I had listed almost 2 years ago. My client, the seller received an offer for slightly below asking but at a time when there were 6 other listings in the neighborhood and nothing was moving. He walked away from the offer, and pulled the house off the market, because he “had” to get a certain price. It was heartbreaking to find that he was not the one trying to sell his house this time. It was the new owner, his bank, and they had it on the market at a price that was only 75% of what he walked away from. On the flip side, there are clients who are still convinced the market is not moving, they’re in control and they can get what they want for what they are willing to pay. Many of those buyers, who are convinced the market was going to continue to slide, despite evidence of busy open homes & multiple offers, are now finding themselves priced out.
Wanting, hoping and or praying does not have an affect on your outcome. It is price, condition, location, financing etc, that will be a bigger part of the final factors to a successful transaction. So if you feel like your Realtor isn’t relating to your feelings, realize that’s the best thing we can do for you. Our job is to stick to the facts and just the facts.
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8 Responses to “Nothing Personal…It’s Business!”
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Julie,
Emotions are involved in Real Estate. It is a Real Estate Agent’s job to be the buffer, to keep emotions and sentiments in place. When sellers put a value to their sentimental feelings does not help them. I do think sentimental feelings do occur and buyers can take advantage of it. Many sellers would like to sell to someone similar to themselves. Either a family to a family, single person to single person, if sellers were newly married when they purchased they might favor a young couple. If offers are similar or pretty darn close appealing to the similariarity cannot hurt and often wins out. It has helped some of my recent buyers in San Bruno. In today’s market of REO’s and ShortSales it does not work. It appears more and more individual seller are coming on the market and this will help. Lee ginsburg
Julie,
Excellent points and thanks for sharing your “war” stories so we can use those as an example when we face challenging sellers.
It is so true to keep the big picture in mind (selling the property for the most money) while dealing with sellers who have emotional or other concerns.
Stubborn people or control types pose us other problems when they won’t listen to facts.
We walk a tightrope at times.
Brian
Emotions play a BIG part in buying a home! Many times you tell it is the right home the minute the buyer steps through the door. One of the biggest roles that a Realtor can play is to make sure that emotions don’t get in the way of a good decision.
Larry
Julie, like you say, “selling a home is just a business transaction,” but it is easier said than done. It is more difficult for the home owners to remove emotions from the transaction, than for us realtors. We do this every day.
But, I do agree, you are correct, we should leave the emotions as separate as possible and stick to the pure facts.
Julie,
another great post. I do agree with you, nothing personal…it’s business. Even though emotions are involved we should make sure that they do not get out a hand. For us Realtors it is easier for us to keep our emotions out and stick to the facts and numbers, although not easy at times. Of course we would like to help our clients as much as possible to get what they want, but at times it may be a bit unrealistic.
I do my best to guide my clients and educate them on the current market, while taking into consideration their individual situation.
Sorry to hear about your client who lost their home. We do our best to help people and it is crucial that client and Realtor are on the same page.
Hi Julie,
Very well “said” and written. You are totally correct. Unfortunately, buying and selling a house is not always logical. Most sellers are very emotional about selling their “pride and joy” and not always reasonable initially. But if they are serious about selling (or buying), reason sets in. Nice job.
Jonathan
Such a fine line we walk,each customer is looking for something different, not only in the property but from their Realtor. Now if we could only read minds. When in doubt ask, ask, and ask again
Great subject Julie
Julie,
Great blog and so to the point. It can be such a touchy subject sometimes, but needs to be said and reminded to Buyer’s and Seller’s repeatedly.
Thanks for putting it out there!