A GREAT REAL ESTATE YEAR IN 2023?

by Neil Jenman

Reading time: Apx 3.5 mins

A few years ago, I got the best compliment of my life. My wife said that I never let her down.

I beamed with pride. I thought of Emerson’s words about success being: “winning the respect of intelligent people and appreciation of honest critics.”

I never want to let anyone down – especially honest and intelligent people. As I wrote in my book, Success Takes Character, I always remember the words of my first boss: “Give me a person who does what they say they will do, and I will build an empire around that person.”

I was 19 when I heard those words. I thought: “Gee, is that all I have to do to succeed – just keep my word?”

Yes, that’s about it.

For years, I have often said to people: “You don’t have to do what I say to do. You only have to do what you say you’ll do.”

My standards – especially with qualities such as reliability, commitment – and my favourite virtue, loyalty – are high. Maybe that’s why I get upset so often. No matter how many times I witness it, whether it happens to me or others, disloyalty, betrayal, letting people down – and, in short, not living up to one’s promises, can really distress me.

I often find it hard not to ‘stew’ at what goes on in real estate. Every day I am contacted by honest and decent (and yes, intelligent) people who have been hurt by nefarious agents. The only mistake these decent folk make is that they have been too trusting.

Recently an 83-year-old lady contacted me. Her husband is ninety and suffers dementia. A real estate agent is hassling them to pay $20,000 (unjustly, I feel). A court has agreed that these people don’t have the money. Their son offered to pay the agent a thousand dollars a month. But no. The agent is relentless and ruthless. The elderly couple have been told to pay up or be kicked out of their home. The lady is terrified. She is barely sleeping.

And she’s been warned: Say anything bad about this agent and he’ll sue them for defamation.

Like so many too-trusting people, this couple believed what an agent told them. They failed to properly read documents. Worse, they failed to use three words that could have saved them much money and misery.

Those three words are THINK IT OVER.

In real estate, there is rarely a need for urgency. Any person who pushes you to sign documents is doing so more for their benefit than yours. Believe it, real estate deals are like buses; there’s one along every few minutes.

Granted, in real estate, everyone wants the best deal. That’s human nature. But real estate often brings out the worst in human nature. Due to the massive deception – that begins when agents vie to win the rights to list a home and inflate the price to lure the owners – everything goes wrong from that point.

To repair the damage caused by one big lie – “Oh yes, Mr and Mrs Seller, I will get you a huge price for your gorgeous home.” – the agents later tell a multitude of other lies. “Unfortunately, the market feedback is alarming,” they falsely moan as they push sellers down in price.

Or this codswallop: “The more money you “invest” (that’s the word they use instead of ‘spend’) in marketing, the more you’ll get for your home.” No mention that the real purpose of advertising is to advertise agents not homes. Or find more sellers for agents to deceive.

And to the buyers, “Oh yes, you’ll get this place for an absolute bargain. Just be at the auction.”

Many years ago, my wife swore to never attend another auction. She got too upset seeing buyers distressed and sellers bulled. “To see buyers sobbing in grief after an auction – that’s not my idea of success,” she said.

Yes, the real estate world is a treacherous place. It begins with agents shafting each other for any chance to meet budding home-sellers. Once they convince those home-sellers to sign on the dotted line, the niceties stop. The conditioning starts. The home sellers are hit with a barrage of bad news to get them down in price. The agent can then more easily sell the home. At any price. That’s the aim of most agents.

So please, if you want to have a good year in real estate in 2023, think before you act. Think long and hard. Don’t sign anything until you are sure you will be safe, that you are not going to face needless costs and that, most of all, you do not use an agent who lets you down.

This may seem presumptuous, but I’d like to ask you something if you are selling, buying, or investing in real estate in 2023. It will greatly increase your chances of doing well.

Will you please contact me first?

I will never charge you any money or ask you to sign anything. I will always protect your interests.

At Jenman Support, we help you find the right agent with nothing to pay before you sell – and no locked-in contracts. And that’s just for starters. We have eight protection points to help you.

You can contact me now, or anytime over the holidays – and I will send you the updated edition of my book ‘THE DOs AND DON’Ts OF REAL ESTATE.’ It’s packed with advice I have given thousands of consumers –in 72 easy-to-read chapters.

I repeat: I won’t ask you for any money. Your trust is my greatest payment. Although I will ask this: When I send you this new version of DOs and DON’Ts, please be sure that, when you decide to make a move in real estate, you contact us first.

The updated version of THE DOs AND DON’Ts OF REAL ESTATE is my gift to you for Christmas 2022 or for New Year 2023.

In summary, before you do anything in real estate in 2023, please THINK IT OVER and then CONTACT JENMAN SUPPORT before you contact anyone else.

If you take these two actions, you will increase your chance of a great real estate year in 2023.