Rumors are eroding the foundation of the real estate industry. Move your business forward on facts and not innuendo!

There was an awful article on MSN Home Page the other night.  It made us sound dishonest, misleading and greedy.  Maybe there are agents like that but I think the over whelming majority of us are looking out for our clients best interest whether they be buyers or sellers.

Kathy

There is alwasy somebody stirring up trouble.  Has been since I've been in the biz. I don't pay much attention to all that stuff.  Only do if it's significant and needs attention.  Who's got time for all that and have a business?

I don't pay any attention to rumors - I'm too busy analyzing facts  :)  Karen

That's why you should just pay attention to your own market area and report to your clients the good, bad and the ugly, whatever it may be.  I think the picture of the piranha is great depicting the media with all their talk and nothing to back it up.  Bits of nonsense here & there, gets spun into something else.  Bottom feeders.

Like Karen says, analyze your facts.

I was on a sales call/webinar yesterday with a mortgage company and Joe Stumpf.  One of his techniques was getting to what he calls 5/6 & 7.

That would be the core issue for the client.  Many of our clients react to rumors and hearsay, when they have no facts to back it up.  By continually asking qualifying questions, you'll get to the truth of what they really want or that they really do not have the facts.

It is our job as salespeople to get to the facts.  He used the example of - Homes aren't selling in my neighborhood.

So I hear you saying that you believe that homes aren't selling in your neighborhood?  Is that what you believe?

All of this will be uncomfortable at first but the point is to help the client understand that they are not operating on facts.  Joy

The Key of course is having the ability to seperate the Fact from the Rumor!!!  I remember just a short time ago when a lot of rumors were floating around about a unstainable Real Estate Market. We just kept on saying, Buy Now,  Don't worry about it, prices will keep going up was the word of the day.  My point is:  Don't ignore the rumor (especially in today's market), until you have concrete facts to dispell that rumor.  Otherwise the green shuts your business may be enjoying today may once again be gone tomorrow.  That's not a Rumor-That's a fact!!  I can almost guarantee it.

Thank you for knowing how to use the word jibe.

Great post; I appreciate your points.

A lot of our own 'experts' are crying 'wolf' so often it's hard to tell what's real and what's not.  There are a lot of stats out there, but how reliable is the data?  That is the hard thing to determine and that's why fear guides so many of our clients (and us) because we don't have the data to determine what facts are true and what is not.  Wolf!

Richard, a wise older agent once tole me, "We create our own market everyday." There will always be people buying and selling houses. Look at the facts and work hard and ignore the 'sky is falling' crowd, that's my motto! BTW, love the piranha! I thought it was just a pretty photo of a fish until Steve asked you about it.

Rumors are like a cancer. They spread quickly and take harsh medicine to irradicate

Rumors and heresay are a normal part of  all areas of business as well as everyday life.  They are not confined to real estate by any means. If you  are honest and straightforward and add value to your clients knowlege base, it will make you shine and your clients will recognize and benefit from your behavior.  There is no better way to build one's business. 

We certainly live in interesting times.  It will be REAL interesting come February and March...

There are so many rumors out there, that it's hard to know which to combat.

That said, I do spend a lot of time educating my clients on the realities.

Your comments are music to an engineer's world.  It is why I love graphs that tell the story in ways that words simply cannot.  However, no one buys on yesterday's news.  They all want to know what is going to happen in the future.  Why buy today if the market is going down 10% tomorrow.  And they are going to rely on us for our professional opinion.  Now, this is where we run the risk of having to interpret data and predict trends.  In doing so, each of us is creating our own rumor.

Richard - Great photo!  Where did you take the photo?

Very true Richard. It is our job to instill trust and confidence in our profession and in our clients.

Rumors have been around since the devil told all the animals that Adam and Eve were moving soon.

Some rumors turn out to be true.  Some facts turn out to be false.

We all need to be careful about starting rumors.  When you draw a conclusion about what is happening in your market based on only our own experience - no matter how extensive - you are pushing everyone who hears it in what may well be a wrong direction.

Richard,

Rumors have killed many good reputations.  Always deal in facts.

Ann Hayden in chilly Wildwood, MO

Richard,

Thanks for a good post!