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We spend a lot of time in this business trying to analyze and make sense of both our successes and our failures. On the face of it, that’s certainly not a bad thing. But here’s how it usually goes:
Wow – we’ve had a quite a string of bad weeks in a row. Must be: 1.) Our site agent; 2.) The economy; 3.) The weather; 4.) The time of year/holidays…and so on.
Or, Wow – we’ve just had a couple of great weeks! Must be: 1.) The tax credit; 2.) Our great land planning and architecture; 3.) Buyers responding to our current incentives; 4.) The economy; 5.) The weather…and so on.
It’s hard to understand. What makes one two – week period great and a two-week period just a month later terrible? We don’t know, so we slice and dice and speculate away. Sometimes we even take action. But the reality is, far too often, that buyers (read: the market) are irrational. They react emotionally to what they read and hear on the news (good or bad), to what their friends and colleagues (read: consultants) tell them. And they react to the simply everyday pressures that they face in their current home. It’s not predictable – at least on a week to week basis. And that’s frustrating to those of us who are paid to make sense of it all.
But here’s something I know is a constant. All housing purchases are driven by problems. Your current house is too big or too small. You just had a baby or your youngest just went off to college. You got married, or divorced. And somehow the home you’re living in, that once was the “perfect decision” for you at the time, is no longer perfect.
If we can focus on the problems potential buyers have – not in a negative sense – and determine as teachers and consultants if what we have provides a credible solution to that problem (with all of the inherent complexities that go with a home buying decision), we’re well on our way to a more steady stream of successes.