Yesterday, I did a search of the MLS for every listed property within 1/2 mile of a listing I have in order to ask the other listing agents how their level of activity has been with showings and open houses and what their opinion is of the area market. Of the 18 agents I emailed, 16 of them responded fairly quickly. What surprised me was the negativity of the responses and, not that they are completely wrong or unjustified, and in fact were quite polite about it but negative none the less.
One of the lessons I have learned over the past 30 plus years in real estate is that negativity is not our ally. I am not suggesting that we have a "Pollyanna" attitude but what I am saying is that we are better advocates for our clients when we focus our energy on the positive and put the negative in proper perspective. What Tom Hopkinsused to say when asked how the market is.. it is "unbelievable" which of course is true in every situation. The problem with being negative is that it is believable. People see the negative news daily even hourly as a constant barrage of their senses and their sensibilities. If we are ever going to dig out of this mess it will happen by us seizing the opportunities presented by our clients and helping them make the best of the situation, by us creatively solving their problems.
I took a break from writing this blog and ran across the street to our neighborhood Starbucks where I ran into real estate guru Carla Crosswho summed it up nicely. She said that in many real estate offices as many as 20-30 percent of agents are negative all the time but in this market it is likely to be even more. She went on to say that there are many reason for this, not the least of which is agents who really don't want to work. My question for you is this... are you part of the negative 30% or the positive 70%? Are you part of the solution or part of the problem?
My challenge to you and our industry is to be the solution. Be the advocate for your clients and solve THEIR problem. Trust me on this, you will like the real estate business a lot better when you are selling homes and negativity does no sell.
by Brian Leavitt, a Licensed Real Estate Broker and Licensed Mortgage Broker representing Northstone Real Estate Inc, and Northstone Mortgage.
Brian serves clients within the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
You can contact Brian directly by phone at 800-806-3145 or by email at brian@northstone.net. Click here to view his client newsletter.
Brian is licensed with the Washington State Department of Licensing and the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions License number 510-MB-19802 and is a member of the Seattle King County Association of Realtors and Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
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