In today’s challenging real estate market, homeowners, investors, buyers, and sellers are feeling; insecure, confused, nervous, trapped, overwhelmed, and not sure who to trust. Trust seems to be the BIG word, we are asking them to trust our data, facts, opinion, expertise, and experience in an economy and real estate market that is very different from the past. No inventory, high rates, low buyer demand, high inflation, and affordability at an all-time low. We are asking the consumer to trust us, this consumer could have been screwed over by someone, lost money, got into a bad investment, or had bad financing advice at some point in their life. All those feelings in a time like this come to the forefront of their minds and can be passed on to us, the real estate professional who is trying to help them.
If anyone went through the 2008 housing crash that was much different from today. It is different but that does NOT mean we are not scarred from 2008. We always seem to go back to 2008 and compare it to today’s market. 2008 brings up lots of feelings and emotions, and for some of us, it could be GOOD or BAD memories. Some bought a bunch of real estate and it financially changed our lives, some of us did OK and then some of us got crushed and had to start all over. Depending on what bucket you fit in, you most likely listen to someone, ask for advice, and put your trust in that advice. That advice could have been GOOD or BAD.
As the economy seems to be shifting and there is lots of uncertainty around us we start to turn to people, groups, news, and data and wonder whom should we trust. There are many opinions and advice currently as to what is going to happen in 2024 and beyond and how we individually are going to move ahead. Who you listen to and who you trust is a big deal. Let’s be honest, no one knows what is going to happen, we are all just trying to do our best with what we believe is going to happen based on many factors.
So how do we find the source, person, or outlet that we can rely on and trust so we can hopefully make the best decision for us and our families? I can only speak for myself, I focus on people who study the data, that have proven to have a good track record with what they say and do. I don’t want to listen to someone’s opinion or someone who is being emotional. Watching the data closely and watching what that does usually creates an outcome on the other side and history typically repeats itself with data and outcomes. I learn as much as I can and then form my thoughts, and opinions and do my game plan. I try to rely more on my research than just taking someone’s word for it. I ask lots of questions to lots of people and gather real-time boots-on-the-ground data. When I think about all the times I have lost money on something, it is because I did not do my research and my own opinion. I trusted someone else who let me down or I realized after the fact that they did not understand what they were doing and they were guessing more than knowing.
We do have to trust others around us and cannot be closed-minded because we were lied to, burned, or screwed over by someone else. We have to learn from the past and change our methods moving forward so we can trust again. There are a lot of smart people that have the right data and that are trustworthy. When you find that source and that source had done right by you. Stay close and engaged with that source because that could mean the difference between winning and losing.
