Introduction to 5 Installments: Selling your home is no small matter, and since I’ve been in the real estate business going back four decades and transitioned from traditional marketing to powerful Internet marketing technologies, I’ve seen a lot of changes. While consumers are quite aware of the changes in how they search for homes and do online research, and how they do not respond to old print advertising and other worn out sales gimmicks, the real estate industry itself has lagged far behind. I’ve watched too many good people get caught up in the nonsense of agents’ gimmicks and listing presentations. Having written many books for buyers, I finally could not contain myself any longer, and I decided to share what I’ve learned that home owners definitely would want to know if only someone would tell them. This is the fourth installment of five from my book, The Seven Myths of Selling Your Home.
My point in often referring to traps for the unwary in real estate is that I have spent a lifetime in real estate as a broker and as a real estate attorney, and I’ve seen thousands of good people get caught in traps for the unwary. I’ve watched sellers make wise decisions, and I’ve watched sellers make disastrous decisions. In 37 years, I’ve seen all kinds of good and bad decisions, and I’ve seen far too many good people get caught in traps that end up hurting them financially or causing long delays in their plans. And then there is the stress. What price can you put on unbearable stress?
When I was practicing law, after one to two years of litigation with a trial at the end, clients would often tell me it wasn’t primarily the $20,000 to $40,000 they spent on legal fees and costs that really bothered them the most. It was the tremendous stress that lasted so long and never let up until the end. Save yourself from the costly and stressful lessons from the school of hard knocks, and simply take my lifetime of experience and use it for your own benefit.
I’ve been helping clients avoid the traps, and teaching them to separate myth from fact for decades. I love what I do, and I’m passionate about helping people. This is what qualifies me to write so boldly about myths in real estate. I’ve written thousands of articles and published them free for consumers so they can apply the lessons of many who have gone before them. I’ve written many real estate books, and I give them away to prospective clients to help them avoid the mistakes others have made.
In real estate sales, myths abound. It is in the lack of knowledge and experience that myths are born. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard myths repeated by well-meaning people concerning how to sell a home, how to advertise it, how to negotiate the price, how to handle due diligence issues, and so on. These myths are believed and repeated by very intelligent and successful people.
For centuries people thought the world was flat because they lacked knowledge of the whole truth. And more recently, a lot of people were angry with Steven Spielberg when they saw an old photo of him leaning against a dinosaur prop from the movie Jurassic Park. The prop appeared to be a dead dinosaur. Apparently many people sincerely thought Steven Spielberg had killed a dinosaur. I don’t know what to say about that, except our public education system is sorely lacking.
In real estate the myths are usually more subtle and far less dramatic. But that only makes them harder to recognize. Even if the average person is not wrong about what they know in regard to marketing and selling a home today, their knowledge and experience is still very limited if they have not been a real estate professional for decades. It takes at least 10 years as a full time professional to become an expert, and it really takes much longer to digest a large amount of knowledge and experience through several real estate cycles, and apply that experience consistently with wisdom. An experienced professional will also gain the experience of thousands of his clients over the years.
This is Part 4 of 5 installments. For more information about my book, which you can get in either the Kindle version or the paperback version, you can preview it on Amazon at The Seven Myths of Selling Your Home.
Read the next installment at Part 4 of How to Sell Your Home.
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