The Yin & Yang of Focus
On Saturday, my wife and I decided to drive around a little bit before we went home. We enjoy checking out different neighborhoods because we’re renting and we hope to move again soon.
So when we saw an open house we decided to drop in.
The realtor talked our ear off.
Furthermore, much of what he said was either inaccurate or mildly offensive.
In addition to saying there was nothing wrong with the house (it backed to some monster power lines) and that I probably wouldn’t qualify for a home loan (I was qualified by USAA from Sep-Dec 2008 based on 2007 income) — he said he wasn’t taking listings right now.
I guess that might not be too surprising if a guy had so many listings he really couldn’t take any more. But that was definitely NOT the case.
This guy said he would take a qualified buyer… if he could find one… but that he didn’t want any listings because they stayed on the market so long.
“I’m doing this open house for another agent, actually,” he said. “And this house has been on the market for 150 days.”
The fact that this particular house had been on the market for 150 days was offered as proof for his belief that it wasn’t profitable to list homes for sale.
Then I got to thinking. Wait a second!
People are buying homes right now. For every buyer, there’s a seller. Which means literally HALF of all real estate business involves selling homes. (Duh.)
Now, if you are a realtor, should you list any and every home? Probably not.
The most effective strategy would be to list only the best properties: Those that are in good condition, in a good location, for a good price.
I’m not knocking this guy for focusing on buyers. That’s actually a good strategy — to be an agent only for home buyers.
But this clearly wasn’t a premeditated strategy for this particular realtor. He was so focused on how properties weren’t selling that he decided not to list homes. That’s not a strategy… that’s a reaction.
The whole point of me sharing this story is that it illustrates the raw power of focus to give you what you want… or what you don’t want. I call it the yin and yang of focus.
If you’re focused on the part of the market that’s hurting, your business will probably also hurt. But if you’re focused on the part of the market that’s thriving, your business will probably also thrive.
So while it’s easy to get caught up in negative news and what’s not working, it’s much better to get caught up in positive news and what is working.
Because, ultimately, you tend to get what you focus on.
-Ryan M. Healy
P.S. Did you know Amazon just had their best holiday sales ever?
