If an investor or buyer wants to purchase a home and is ready to write up the offer and move forward, what should a good Realtor do? Unfortunately, many will of course write up the deal immediately and mentally deposit the commission, and perhaps already have it spent. This isn’t the type of Realtor you want to work with.
Instead, you want a Realtor who will ask a lot of questions and provide more information. One who will, in a sense, make you justify why this purchase is the one that best accomplishes the outcome you seek.
Purchasing real estate is an emotional decision, but one which must be supported and justified by non-emotional considerations, namely the financial side of the equation. In helping the number of buyers we have, Sylvia and I observe, as one would expect, that different buyers operate from each end of the spectrum, from emotional to financial, and at all points in between. But no decision made entirely based on emotion or numbers can be the best decision. A balanced blend of the emotional and financial considerations will result in the “smartest” decision.
Some buyers are so fixated on the “numbers” that they are blind to other realities, such as the fact that the cheap crackerbox starter home being contemplated is way too far from everything and comes with serious risks due to it’s stage in the neighborhood life cycle, poor schools and unpredictable and undefined development of the surrounding areas. But it’s “cheap”, and that seems to override the thought process if left unchallenged.
Others fall so in love with a property that they engage in a willing suspension of scrutiny on other important considerations, and operate instead from a place a happy denial. The home doesn’t fit with the stated criteria or needs, it’s over priced and it has misfit attributes such as a super steep driveway or backs up to a very busy street, yet the buyer fixates on something mundane such as, “it has a magnolia tree … we had a magnolia tree growing up and I’ve always wanted a home with one. My mother loved Magnolia trees”.
This is the point of recking for the Realtor. As a buyer, do you want to “hear what you want to hear” or do you want to “know what you need to know”?
Should the Realtor say, “oh, I love magnolia trees too, and if your heart is saying this house is the one, then let’s do it!”
Or should the Realtor say, “you can purchase and plant a 10ft tall magnolia tree at any home for about $200-$300, so let’s not allow that to be a deciding factor”.
Imagine your grandmother needed to be escorted through a dangerous part of town, and you had to select from available bodyguards. One is a White Belt, a part timer with very little experience, but he returned your call in less than 10 minutes.