“MIRACLE DOLLARS”

by Neil Jenman

READING TIME: 7.5 minutes apx

Many years ago, Lee Iacocca, the legendary business executive made an unforgettable claim. He said he could go into any business anywhere and cut its costs by ten per cent – without damaging profits.

The bigger the business the easier to cut costs, he said. This meant savings of millions of dollars for many companies.

Iacocca was considered by his admirers to be a near miracle man. He created miracle dollars.

Today, in 2020, I can confidently make the same claim in the real estate world.

I can examine any sale – for sellers or buyers – and save at least ten per cent of the total price of the home. Often much more, as you will see.

So, for the sake of simplicity, if you are selling or buying a home of one million dollars, you should save at least one hundred thousand dollars. On each transaction. So, that’s $200,000 if you sell for a million dollars and buy again for the same price.

I am happy to accept a challenge from any honest and genuine seller or buyer to show them how they can create what is tantamount to “miracle dollars”.

I am calling them “miracle” because that’s what many people say when they discover what to do. There are three main ways these miracle dollars can be achieved.

First, a better price on the home (lower when you buy and higher when you sell).

Second, by cutting expenses when selling or buying.

And third, by knowing and then avoiding common mistakes made by consumers.

By far, the biggest mistake consumers make is not doing enough research. Or to be more brutal, not thinking before acting. As I wrote in a recent article, one of the most important things you can do in your real estate life is ‘THINK ABOUT IT’.

Last week, I spoke with a lovely lady who will soon be selling her family home. Agents are already circling, calling constantly, and asking if she is “ready yet”, telling her they have “buyers waiting”, all the corny lines so common to agents.

Like thousands of other consumers, this lady is “terrified”. Only in her case, she is honest enough to admit her fears. She also has the courage, the humility, and the intelligence to do something positive about it – she called Jenman Support.

When we spoke, I asked her a few questions and discovered she had an advantage – she is not in a hurry. I suggested she “think about it”. I said I would mail her information which would enable her to think clearly and discover what is best for her – not what is best for the agents circling like sharks.

Her relief was palpable. I urged her not to hurry, to gather some information, to speak with those she trusted, such as her family.

She told me what so many consumers tell me; that I am the only person to whom they have spoken who is not pushing them to decide right now.

Plus, the only person who is focused upon what is best for her, not what is best for the agents.

She promised she would not sign anything with any agent – yet. She agreed to wait until she received the information I was sending her, and we spoke again.

This lady is not only going to be safe now, she is almost certain to be several hundred thousand dollars better off. Her home is worth many millions of dollars, as are so many homes these days – and so many owners are constantly under-selling them.

I was recently contacted by a doctor in a similar situation to this lady. As a direct result of him taking time to do some research, he will now be millions of dollars better off than if he had not called me – and just signed up with an agent in his area, the eastern suburbs of Sydney.

If you are a home seller, I am sure he’d confirm what I have just told you. He is so grateful for the advice he’s received. “I am a scientist,” he says, “and what you say is so logical”.

Please don’t be intimidated by the word “research”. Discovering how to save a hundred thousand dollars when you sell or buy is not the same as discovering a vaccine for COVID-19. You only need to make time to grasp a few salient facts. It’s time more than “research” per se.

Not only do consumers make mistakes in real estate, these mistakes are often incredibly stupid – at least in hindsight.

Why do we place so much focus on hindsight – when it’s usually too late to repair the financial damage – and yet place so little focus on foresight, which is how we can figure out how we can be at least 10 per cent better off?

Or, in some cases millions of dollars ahead.

The reason is simple: We are being pushed. Pressured. Told to hurry up. Decide today. Sign this document. Pay money.

And who is pushing us? Real estate agents. Most of them, most of the time.

Now, please consider the incredible stupidity that strikes hundreds of thousands of real estate consumers every year.

Let’s examine three factors:

First, your home is probably your biggest financial asset if you are selling. If you are buying, a home is probably the biggest purchase of your life.

Second, a whopping 92 per cent of consumers do not trust real estate agents.

Third, about 92 per cent of consumers sign up with agents without much thought at all – other than to believe the agents’ deceitful inducements.

Think about that for a moment.

Thousands of people putting their most valuable asset with someone they don’t trust. Often after only meeting the agent an hour or two earlier.

Here’s a question: You trust your best friend, don’t you? Does your best friend have a set of keys to your home? Unlikely.

So, why do you give your house keys to a member of a profession distrusted by 92 per cent of the population?