Data vs. Analysis – What Buyers and Sellers Don’t Know
One of the more difficult problems I see is with home sellers and new home buyers who just love analyzing data over and over and over. I understand. I enjoy playing with data too. However, I find that when home buyers and home sellers stay in analysis, they suffer from paralysis. Lots of buyers would have been better off buying last fall, and are now suffering in a state of shock that prices went up 8-15% in homes for sale in Cupertino Schools.
Data vs. Analysis – What Buyers and Sellers Don’t Know
The Internet these days is a tremendous mass of information, and lots of data with regard to real estate and the housing market. Media headlines and reports are a big part of this.
The good thing is that anyone can find it these days…much more than they probably want, need, or can make sense of.
The bad thing is that anyone can find it.
Tons of data and media headlines and reports, often contradictory, cause confusion, which often leads to indecision on the part of buyers and sellers. We see it all the time.
We used to be the guardians of real estate data. I wasn’t in the biz at the time but I remember having to get in touch with a real estate agent in order to get any information at all, as well as access to homes, among other things. You may have been one of those protectors of precious real estate information, in order to not give up your power and control.
The Internet has changed all that, and like it or not sellers and buyers have easy access to incredible amounts of information, and are doing more and more research all the time before we even enter the picture.
It’s become abundantly clear in the last few years in my own experience that this is true, and with the craziness we are seeing in the market, no doubt the data are even more confusing to those who find it.
What buyers and sellers usually don’t get with their data, at least not in a meaningful way, is the analysis.
Oh, they find out what has sold and for what, and how long it was on the market. They hear it’s a seller’s market in most areas and how much prices and inventory have shifted (time frames, and data, depending on the report you read). They hear about bidding wars.
The data are endless.
What they don’t get is the precisely the value we add – an analysis of what all this information actually means for them in terms of their buying or selling strategy and decision making. And the impact from a local perspective, not by state or region or nationally.
I’ve found myself spending much more time in recent months describing not only what is going on in terms of prices and inventory and providing specific data, but what this actually means to someone who has to make an informed decision about a sale and/or a purchase in my area, and the implications of certain decisions they may or may not make.
No doubt you have experienced the same.
It’s clear our value is even more critical than ever, with the amount of information out there, the inaccuracies, and the contradictions. We need to know not only what is going on in our local markets and be able to communicate it, but what this actually means for buyers and sellers we are advising in terms of their home search, offer strategy, timing, positioning of their home in the market, coping with multiple offers, and so much more.
For example, why is the inventory shifting and in what way, and how does this impact pricing, offers, timing and decision making.
What financial impact (cost) does delaying a decision to sell and buy a move-up home, given current interest rates, inventory, and the direction prices are moving?
We really are more like teachers…explaining, clarifying, advising…and more consultative than ever before.
Buyers and sellers, whether they know it or not, really do need that level of analysis, and probably want it. It’s clear from the questions they ask.
What say you?
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If I can provide more information about Carlsbad homes and real estate for sale and surrounding areas, the housing market in general (or locally), or otherwise assist you, friends or family in a home search or sale, please contact my mobile office or text me at (760) 840-1360 or email me at JeffDowlerSolutions@gmail.com
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