Take the Grand Tour with Your Sellers

Oftentimes, sellers live in a bubble of denial, especially when it comes to accepting a lower value for their property.  When this happens, many agents revert back to a failed strategy of using logic and numbers to prove the lower value.  I think doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results, is the definition of insanity.

When logic fails, it’s usually time to employ an emotional strategy to bring them out of their artificial bubble, and back to reality.  This can be done by putting the seller in the buyer’s shoes. For example, a seller can cling to the belief that their home is worth so much more than other homes available for sale, until they actually see how beautiful other similar listings are.  By seeing the selection of homes for sale through a buyer’s eyes, it becomes nearly impossible for your seller to argue the obvious.

The same concept applies to the perspective you have as the agent.  Your perception can be far different than the perception of your sellers or buyers.  Using the same approach, it makes sense to put yourself in your client’s shoes. It’s not what you think or like, it’s what they think and like.  This is another good reason to avoid being critical of location, interior design, furniture, carpeting and the like when working with buyers.  You may look at a home and find it to be “horrible”, but your buyer can sometimes have an entirely different perspective.

A good rule to remember is that your buyer’s or seller’s perception is reality.