ATTENTION DECODED

Home is where the heart is. It is also where the heart rests, heals and gets ready to go again tomorrow. It is simple really. Home is where we all should be able to go and find peace. Even if that peace feels like the chaos of loud children and a spouse. It is ours. We sure can witness the over-complicating of that sentiment sometimes while working with people in search of their next home. All of the detains that surround the situation can cloud the reason we lead our clients through the process in the first place… To find home. So if home is mostly about heart... We shouldn’t shy away with connecting people back to what their hearts want. It is well known that the heart can lead us all over the place and never even try to make a clever excuse. It can do almost whatever it wants and still get a pass by saying: “The heart wants what the heart wants” And since we have all been there at one time or ano...

Most people have a certain amount of sympathy for their fellow man. Sympathy comes from a place where one person says to another: “I am sorry, I know how you feel”. And to some degree, they mean it. The person acknowledges the other person is going through a tough time because they themselves have also been in difficult situations. Because of their own experiences with struggle, they sympathize with the person who is currently struggling. The problem with giving sympathy is a two fold problem… #1. Is it runs out. People are sympathetic to others, but as soon as they feel they have provided the amount of sympathy they would receive if the rolls were reversed… They stop giving it. They think: “ enough, I have said enough”. Problem #2. Sympathy is usually a half-lie Not because we mean it that way. It is just that the odds of us feeling exactly how the other person feel s is almost impossible. We may feel similar, but similar and same are worlds ...

Embracing discomfort when you are building something is a requirement for pushing past pain barriers. Pain barriers signal us to stop because it is uncomfortable. The problem with stopping: We will never reaching our full potential. Most people at the edge of the pain barrier ask the same question: “Is this pain going to be worth it?” Fear  will always be the first to answer. And for most people it shouts. “No way! Don’t do it! Don’t believe… Turn back”. But for people who are driven by ambition, the answer they hear is always the opposite. They hear: “It will be worth it…have faith”. They dispose of all “what if” thinking. They jump will full force into the unknown. Because they have faith. They believed they could  do it . Which is exactly why they were able to do it. They have so much faith that the pain barriers are tolerable. They internalize the discomfort through the filter that faith provided. Faith in what?… It ...

(LIFE SHOULD BE PLANNED INNING BY INNING.) For most people, buying or selling their home is their biggest monetary move. It is potentially an emotional feeling to commit to a  investment decision that large. It means that both you and your client will be working with a lot of other people during this process. Making sure everything happens safely, without overlooking any costly details. It can be overwhelming. Especially if the client thinks of all the things that need to happen all at once. That is where you come in. Much like a parent cuts food into little bites for a child to eat. You must break up the process into smaller compartmentalized to do lists. Tiny bites until the meal is finished. And as you know... There can be a lot on the plate. To lead a client does not mean they need to know everything you know. That is something we get wrong sometimes. For us, we are used to the massive checklist while conducting a transaction...

“What if this doesn’t work? What will happen to me?” Worrying means to focus on future or past consequences of situational “what if’s”. Most of the situations people worry about never come to fruition. Every situation ends with one ending. So mulling over the 20 different ways you could potentially become disappointed… Not worth it. After you have done your best, a situation may still be up to another person to make a final decision. Will that decision affect you? Yes. But in a smaller sense than you anticipate. There is no sense in fretting about much of anything in this world until the situation has unfolded completely. To do otherwise is a waste of your productive time. It is out of your control. Most things are. As a professional, your task is to do your best. Present the facts and make good arguments. Beyond that, people have to make their own decisions. At the beginning of every task you have set out to complete, you s...

A major task for you the listing agent is to get the appearance of a home in marketable shape. This can be a challenge if you and the homeowner have different ideas about what "marketable" means... "Neutral and minimal" are two words that bring joy to you when presenting a home to buyers. You know that both attributes are aesthetically pleasing to buyers. So when you take on a listing that has a really red color palate...overflowing with bulky red furniture and clutter... You start to sweat. How can you respectfully say: "we need to change...everything"? Hopefully you don't have to change everything. And realistically, you should advise a homeowner that changes need to occur for nearly every home that it is listed. That way they are not totally blindsided, and you are not stuck representing a homeowner who will not even consider the concept. …But back to the "how to". K...

During a listing appointment interview, the client is thinking from the perspective of a customer at a restaurant. Sometimes you (the agent) feel like you are on the chopping block... Wondering if the customer will like anything on your menu of services. The customer says: "Chef...let me see if I like your menu(your services)... tell me every dish you have " Even though you are a professional Chef(Realtor) everything is an overwhelming word.... The problem with showing the client your whole menu --there are to many choices and options for people to chose from. With that approach, you may never get to the part of the menu that appeals to the customer because as soon as they hear you list options they DO NOT want, they are now thinking to themselves: "they don't have anything I want" Your menu (your services) are extensive ... The customer may love page 4 of your menu but in this scenario we will ne...