Of late my musings have caused me to shift my perspective from how best to deliver our MyPlace service to how it feels being a participant in this wonderfully crazy and unpredictable real estate market.
Over the previous 18 months I have been a tenant, landlord, vendor and purchaser. Yes, that’s right. It is a very interesting place to be when your own business is built around delivering these services to others. It is a very big dose of reality to be on the other side of each of these unique transactions.
It sparked in me many questions and insights. Firstly, the sheer enormity and overwhelm that can be experienced when entering into any one of these transactional profiles. By the time we meet you have already done the hard work by making the decision to begin your real estate journey. Often, we can forget what it took for you show up. I know all too well the layers of decision making involved.
When I ask what are the biggest challenges to participants throughout the real estate journey it always comes back to one thing . . . uncertainty.
Making the decision to enter the market may have seemed like the most challenging part of the process but that is just the beginning.
Prospective Purchasers or Tenants you better get “search fit” or swallow some “search stamina concrete”! Whoa! Getting up close and personal with real estate portals is the order of the day. You begin with what you believe are realistic expectations and very quickly you begin extending your search location and reducing your requirements! Particularly true today for purchasers in pursuit of that illusive affordable new home.
For me, whilst recently searching for a rental it became personal. This will not beat me! One search a day quickly turned in to three! Oh the repetitive self talk . . . What if I miss out on one? Just one more look. but I don’t want to go back on internet . . . how can it be gone already? . . . and then that voice “but you might miss out . . . something may have been listed in the last two hours”? My life was a slave to the search.
That said I know people in the industry that I could speak to directly. Even if it was just to get opinions. That’s more than most.
Finding yourself thrust into an entirely new reality. Why so many moving targets? Why isn’t my agent ringing me back? What do you mean I’m being unrealistic? The media says one thing, the market another, the Agent another.
So many experts not enough tailored information. All these questions and more begin to surface.
Consider, if you will, a new vendor placing the family home and memories on the open market. This too can be daunting and confronting. Sidelining yourself as others place a market value on something that has high intrinsic worth for you and your family. Despite dutifully researching the market, the gruelling agent selection process and steely mental preparation you are still sitting in uncertainty until the sold sticker goes up.
Then, the Landlord (who are often mums and dads hoping to get some benefits from negative gearing because “that’s what everyone says you should do”); experiencing the anguish of having an investment property lying empty whilst you scramble to pay the mortgage.
The Humans of Real Estate
The question is how do we navigate the intersection of our lives, our expectations and dreams with the unpredictable, unquantifiable aspects of real estate? I am interested in the overlap, the crossover of each profile and what it takes to show up there. The humans of real estate.
Stakes are often high and timeframes tight. These are times when we experience some of the most emotionally loaded moments in our lives.
A topic very close to my heart.
The challenges are real and experience can span anywhere between daunting and intimidating to exhilarating and empowering.
Give me your best questions
I would love to hear from you with some of your personal stories. I think it is important that we understand our clients a little more. Was your experience positive or negative I really want to know? What would have helped you in your journey? Help me improve our questions.
If you shared with me your real estate story what would it be?
What do you specifically need throughout this process?
What is your biggest fear/challenge around being a V. I. P. T.?
With that in mind, I am creating some insights and resources to assist you in wherever you find yourself on the real estate spectrum. These resources are prepared with the intention of sharing knowledge and bridging the gap between real life and real estate and more importantly keeping your sanity at the same time! I will share with you ways to engineer your way through the real estate transaction as well as taking those skills into other areas of your life with coaching insights and resources on sleep, daily routines, emotions, mindset and a smattering of neuroscience. Looking forward to our journey together.
As always, your partner in Real Estate & Real Life. Sandra Higgins
Please be aware whilst every effort is taken in the production of this information it is prepared as a general guide only. It is not to be taken as advice in any instance. Nor is it specific to any person, or group of persons. While the MyPlace uses reasonable efforts to include accurate and up-to-date information the Company makes no warranties or representations as to its accuracy. The Company assumes no liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions of the content or how how this content is applied. In no event shall the company be liable for any special incidental, indirect punitive, reliance or consequential damages whether foreseeable or not.