It has been said that people don’t want to be SOLD, they want to buy. Years ago when I first started my career in real estate, I was interviewing different companies around Ann Arbor, and Saline, Mi. I was looking for the “right fit” for me. That meant “no cold calling”, “no knocking on doors”. Shortly after, when I started working with buyers, I discovered this wonderful little secret.
Fall in Love
My little secret that has made my life fun is that my job was to just introduce people to the homes that matched their criteria and they would either “fall in love” with the right house or move on.
It completely takes the pressure off. There is nothing you can do to fall in love and there is not much you can do to stop it. The experts say that the first thing we fall in love with is the physical appearance of the other person, the way they walk or talk, their personality. It is a strong instinctive attraction. It is very physical, and often times we don’t really know why at first.
Is house hunting any different?
Buying a house is often like that. You have been out showing homes all day, and found a couple of “possibilities”. Which means they would work for them as far as the floor plan, location and price.
Then it happens, Mr. and or Ms Buyer walk in a home and bang it hits them over the head. This is it ! Excitement is all over their faces. Gone is the logic, of yes this will work, it is the right location, the right price. Sometime it is even higher than they wanted to go. But, they have “fallen in love”. People buy with emotions and then justify the price.
Often the decision makes no sense to us, because we’re not in love. In fact, logic many times goes out the window. Do you whip out a purchase agreement? Do you say, “Lets, go back to the office and write this house up, and get it under contract?”
This is not some new revelation, we have all experienced it with our buyers. The lights go on, their pulse increases. At this point, all logic goes out the window. Sometimes like in a relationship it is really not the right house for them. But, nothing will stop them. They have found their house and they are in love.
What have I learned over the years as I discovered this, “little secret”.
1) One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. Many houses I have sold over the years, didn’t appeal to me at all.
2) Keep my mouth shut about certain features that they may love and I would never live with.
3) Keep looking until the lights go on.
4) For my sellers, I encourage them to take every offer seriously, even a low ball offer. If they care enough to sit down and write an offer there is some emotion involved.
5) There are all kinds of people and tastes, and internally they know when they have found the “right house”.
6) Unless there is some major requirement that is missing, don’t try to talk them out of it. (like we need to be 10 minutes to the hospital). Then I would point it out, “this is over 10 minutes to the hospital, are you ok with it being 20 minutes)
7) I am not a salesperson, but a match maker. In Jewish literature called a shadchan.
