I’ve been recently watching a real estate reality show on TV called Agent Vs. Agent that pits veteran real estate professionals against rookies. The contest on each episode was having both of the reps show a given buyer homes they might want to buy. The winner was the rep who successfully negotiated a home purchase for the buyer.
In one of the episodes one of the rookies remarked “there’s a saying in the real estate business: buyers are liars”.
I’m betting a lot of real estate professionals say this, especially rookies. They spend a lot of their time showing buyers homes and are very often frustrated by these people. They think these people are wishy washy, don’t know what they want, won’t sign a Buyer Rep agreement, and have no loyalty. So it’s no wonder they call buyers liars.
In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Buyers are not liars. The essential reason these reps perceive buyers to be liars is they’re focusing too much on themselves and not enough on the buyer. To some extent they’re projecting their own feelings and desires onto the buyers. Projecting means they’re seeing themselves in the homes they pick for their buyers. So these reps wind up showing their buyers properties with many aspects that appeal to them, not necessarily the client.
One thing that struck me about so many of the veteran and rookies alike is their arrogance. Of course, being a reality show the producers will try to create some drama in pitting one rep against another with some light hearted trash talk thrown in. But in watching quite a few episodes of Agent Vs. Agent you can really see this overconfident attitude consistently getting in the way of getting these buyers what they want. One rep actually showed the buyer couple 50 properties over several months without a single accepted offer!
The one thing I quickly noticed about most of the veteran reps is (despite their bravado and polish) they understood from the start where to put their focus: on the buyer. Most of these reps asked lots of questions at the first meeting and really listened to the buyers to find out what they want. They then took lots of time to find them only the most suitable homes. The homes they showed to the buyers was usually very much in line with what the buyers were looking for.
