If your traditional stream of buyers has temporarily dried up it may be time to drop a line into another stream.
You've been hearing about diversity for a good while now, but if you haven't seriously considered working with buyers from cultural groups different from your own now may be a good time to take a hard look at what's going on in some of the less familiar portions of your market area.
If you're thinking that sounds like work, give yourself a gold star. It takes not only work, but often a serious attitude adjustment to successfully represent buyers (and sellers!) from cultures not your own. This is true if you are a mainstream, white-bread American of European descent, but it is equally true if you belong to another cultural group and decide to try your luck with traditional consumers.
There's a lot to learn when cultural barriers are breached by outsiders, but success doesn't necessarily mean abdicating your personal cultural values. To the contrary, it may mean simply communicating to individuals from other cultures that you accept them and value their culture equally with your own. Ah, so easy to say; so hard to do!
Rule number one is that persons in other cultural groups can actually tell if you're sincere in your acceptance of them. They can also tell if you're in it strictly for the money, an attitude that doesn't play well in any culture. You don't have to learn a new language, but it is very important to learn what is important to buyers from different cultures. Please note that if the "from different cultures" is removed from the previous statement it becomes Real Estate Sales 101!
Think of the difference between the wish lists of first time buyers and empty nesters! The trick here is to remember that what is important to buyers may vary from culture to culture. In fact, there are actually cultures in which couples seek out properties as near as possible to their parents and/or in laws. This is not a traditional, mainstream American choice so be careful about the mother-in-law jokes, either pro or con.
You can learn a lot about different cultures from attending church services or community events in their neighborhoods and simply listening. These are learning opportunities that cost little or nothing and can literally be worth thousands to you, even if all you learn is that you and the cultural group are not a good match.
Fortunately for us, we are currently blessed with a large and widely varies number of cultural groups in this country. It's statistically impossible for you to not find at least one culture besides your own that will accept you. As far as I know, all cultures look favorably on hard workers who want their business and will work to get and keep it.
Good luck with your ventures into your personal unknown. I'd love to hear your stories!
by Carmel Streater
www.carmelstreater.net
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