Historically, buyers have purchased real estate for the emotional benefits of use and enjoyment. But recently, because of the economic meltdown and depreciation of home values, most buyers have learned through several years of “Spaced-Repetition” from listening to everyone, especially the media that they should focus almost exclusively on price. But that’s not why people buy things. We spend money as a way to improve the quality of our life, and we’ve always bought homes because of how it makes us feel to actually own our own home.

It’s imperative that as “Trusted Advisors”, we put the focus back to where it should be by asking our Buyers the single-most important question you can ask:

“If you were to buy today, what would it mean to you?”

The answer to this question will be very telling. It will enable you as their Trusted Advisor to help them avoid having too great an emphasis on price, at the expense of their quality of life. Use this valuable information as a constant reminder to help them break the bad habit of a “money-exclusive mindset”.