Last week I asked the question, “How do I maintain this positive attitude?” Well here’s how I do it. In “Winning through Intimidation” author Robert Ringer talks of the importance of maintaining a positive attitude through the assumption of a negative result. In other words, Ringer suggests that you be prepared for the worst case scenario while at the same time putting your best foot forward to get the best possible result. This will take the mental pressure off of you and allow you to focus on getting the job done. This approach, I believe, allows you to be positive and realistic in your mental assessment of buying and selling your home.
There’s an old expression in the media business, “If it bleeds, it leads.” In other words, the media loves to cover negative news more than positive because it sells better. When the real estate market is in turmoil, the media loves to run these negative headlines to keep reminding people how bad things are. When buyers hear the bad news, it affects demand because the negative news drives fear, which makes buyers worry about whether the time is right to buy a home. Is the media simply reporting the news or does the media actually affect the news in this regard? The answer is obviously both. The media reporting negative news alone can’t simply shape a real estate market. However, since perception is often viewed as reality, when buyers are spooked, they may shy away from buying. This affects lenders, builders, real estate agents and other professionals who rely on the real estate business for their income. It becomes almost a self-fulfilling prophecy because things get worse and the media constantly reminds us how bad things are.
But, are things really as bad as the media reports? The numbers certainly do reflect falling home prices and rising foreclosures. When you hear that foreclosures have doubled or even tripled in a particular area, this may sound catastrophic at first until you realize that the vast majority of homes (97-99%, depending on the local market) are NOT in foreclosure! Despite all the doom and gloom, there’s always a buyer for a well-kept home offered at the right price and terms. In short, don’t always pay attention to the doom and gloom media reports if you want to keep a positive attitude and sell your home fast!
Well done is better than well said. You sometimes have to take a whole lot of action to get your house sold in a slower market. In a good real estate market, people can sell a house fast, so when things slow down, they figure, “Oh well, there’s nothing I can do.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only is there something you can do, but there is a lot you MUST do to get your house sold. However, it’s not just about working hard, it’s about working SMART. You need to do things in the right order and in the right way to get the proper results.
However, don’t focus too much on perfection before you take action. You’re probably familiar with the phenomenon of the “C” student who outperforms the “A” student in real life. This is because the “C” student is often satisfied with having a “can do” attitude. The “A” student’s mentality often leads to paralysis of analysis and inaction. In other words, the bottom line is getting your house exposed to as many buyers as possible, not getting it done perfectly. For example, many sellers want to show their house only when it is convenient to them and the house is in perfect shape to be shown, instead of when the buyer is ready. While showing a house in its best condition is a priority, it doesn’t make senses to put off a ready and willing buyer for too long just so you can have everything perfect.
Many people reading this are prone to inaction because of fear of doing it incorrectly. Remember, it is not a matter of doing it perfectly, but putting forth you best effort! As I stated earlier, a lot of effort at a “C” level beats doing less things at an “A” level.
Lack of knowledge certainly makes it difficult to sell a house fast in a slow market, and is probably the single biggest drawback for the average person. Most homeowners only have the opportunity to sell a few houses in their lifetime and often need to rely on professionals to do the work. Thus, the average homeowner does not have enough practice and experience to get really good at the task at hand. In fact, a majority of real estate agents in the business are hardly good at it…the top 20% of agents in any market do the vast majority of the business! Taking the time to learn what to do is an important part of the success in selling your house. There are two types of knowledge when selling your home, general and specialized. Certainly there are a lot of materials floating around out there offering general knowledge, but only an experienced real estate agent ( like Kammeyer Realty Group) will reveal the specialized knowledge you’ll need to get your house sold fast and at the highest price you can get in your market!
Keep that positive attitude!!
