The Paradoxical World Of Real Estate
How You Are Sabotaging Your Business By Following Commonly Accepted Opinion.....

It's not politics, sex or religion. No! there are other topics that top producers dare not bring up within a mile radius of so called 'old-school-real-estate-agents'.

Ok, here it goes......

the topic is "Open Houses"...

 There are many aspects of real estate that are pretty clear but our perception distorts it, and we sabotage our business because we can't seem to operate in a gray area (or colorful as I like to think of it). It's either black or white....

Question: Are Open Houses a Good Practice For Real Estate Agents?

There are those who say "yes I've sold multiple homes by holding open houses and love them..." and then there are those who say "Open Houses are a waste of time!".... Oh, and we are defiant.

I personally hate open houses, but I shall admit and will not regret that the first home I sold was from a buyer who I met while holding an open house. At the time I did not know anything about marketing. I was taught the 'old school' way of making a list of all the people I knew, go knock on doors and sit open houses. Honestly, I found this to be an impossible way to make a career out of real estate since most people I talked to had absolutely no interest in buying or selling. It was like trying to sell a book on abstinence to Paris Hilton's fans....

Now did you find yourself taking sides at this point on whether open houses are good or not? (If you did you're right either way, YES - open houses suck.... or NO - you just don't know). Well, welcome to the paradoxical world of real estate. I have met people who have been able to make a career out of open houses, and I'm glad it works for them. So, if you are starting out don't disqualify open houses. However, I have found that spending $100 to advertise will get me more leads than sitting four hours in a house where I get to meet the neighbors and a few other people looking for design ideas and steal your cookies, candy and bottled water (leaving you dry in 120 degree weather here in Phoenix.... How inconsiderate). And best of all, it only takes me minutes to generate the same amount of leads I would sitting an open house.

"All Real Estate Agents Are Created Equal....... With The Opportunity To Become Unequal"

We all start pretty much the same way. Take our licensing course, pass the test and off on our own to a new and exciting (more like crazy) career.

Maybe we did not expect to have to take clients out to lunch, get random phone calls at late hours of the night from a buyer who wants to know how wide is the window in the living room where the sellers should have installed wood blinds instead of curtains... Oh, and we all thought that people were nice and would never betray us by having us show them around town, only to have their friend write up the purchase contract...

C'mon, is it really necessary to ask buyers to marry us by means of a buyer's broker contract? Here's another topic for a great debate that leads to, uhh, nowhere....

Also, why do we have to convince buyers that they are not the only ones making cash offers and that offering 50% of market value is not realistic even in today's market (unless it needs major repairs of course, but we all know they want move-in ready).... If you think sellers are any better, they are not.... They want top dollar and sold today.... Oh, and add 10% above market because they spent countless hours painting the living room and decorating the kitchen which they consider improvements on the house...

Then there's short sales and bank owned listings..... My god, these are a lot of work...

There are great buyer's agents, great seller's agents, great short sale agents, REO agents, etc. These are few, and what separates them from the rest is training and a positive outlook in the future. Many of them don't see real estate as a job, but a passion (almost a hobbie). Yes, there are those of us who are actually excited to wake up early to answer all the emails and plan the greatest showing in the city. We all like cashing our checks, but only some love the work that it takes to get those checks to begin with (and typically these are the most succesful agents)

Point being is that people will always complain about whatever they are doing not wanting to admit that some things are as clear as black and white, but that our perception makes all these topics either good or bad. So my question to all of you is what kind of color are you adding to the black and white world of real estate?

Mine is positive..... short sales rock! I'm having a great year! 

Have a great week!