Seth Godin wrote: “People are never irrational. They often act on memories and pressures that you’re unaware of, though.” (From Today’s Blog post The People who Came Before You)
This hits on something I’ve said many many times as I have counseled folks through this process of buying or selling a house.
“Everyone has a story . . . ” . . . and that story of prior experience tends to define the way folks behave when they get in a similar scenario.
From the outside looking in, it’s not difficult to jump to conclusions about the folks on the other side of the transaction.
I’ve been known to say things like: “There’s no accounting for CRAZY people!”
So often we’ll consider the actions of other people – leading to the urge to say to other REALTORS (Tongue in Cheek): “I thought your Buyer was interested in BUYING this house!”
The apparent lunacy we witness is sometimes overwhelming.
To some degree, what we all carry with us is a form of PTDS (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder) which results in flash-backs and subsequent knee-jerk reactions to familiar (albeit benign) circumstances.
These are the times we REALTORS must rely on our intuitive people skills.
There are many folks out there who have previously had bad experiences buying or selling houses . . . or have “second hand knowledge” of the experiences of friends, family, or work associates. EVERYONE loves to talk about their nightmares . . . and ghost stories are very effective at instilling FEAR.
So – How do we navigate these waters?
ASK!
That’s right . . . if/when things get weird with a person, SLOW DOWN . . . PAUSE . . . Invite the person to BREATHE . . . and then simply ask what prior experience is bothering them.
We all have these demons in our heads, and until we deal with them we allow them to control our behavior.
Having said all of that . . . I’m not so sure that Seth’s absolute comment holds water:
“People are never irrational.”
If there are demons from the past keeping you from Buying or selling a house in this market, I urge you to contact me . . . Let’s talk through your reasons for not taking action now and work through our discovery process to find out if you’re now ready đŸ™‚