Real estate consulting: The more we change, the more we stay the same

Dick -

You are SOOO right! I've always believed that the "whys" of choices were even more important than the "whats". When a buyer says "we have to have a basement", I always ask "if you had a basement, what is it that you'd want to do with it". Sometimes, as you know, it's for storage, or a hobby center, or workshop, or extra living quarters, or whatever. I'd laugh when I'd hear "buyers are liars"...mostly they're not. They just sometimes have trouble conveying their priorities. That's one of the reasons why they need us...to help them clarify and prioritize what they want/need in a home.

I couldn't agree with you both more. It reminds me of asking a child what they want to eat - they either don't know, or they always say chicken nuggets.

I tried this consulting method out on my 2 yr old neice the other day, since she is going through a chicken nugget phase. I asked her why she wanted chicken nuggets?

Because I like them she said.

But why do you like them I asked? (This one stumped her). I went on to say What if you could have a really BIG chicken nugget? One the size of of your hand, and have mac - n- cheese to go with it? Wow! She had never thought of that, but given options and knowing that bigger is better she agreed to try it. Must admit I had to keep her busy so she didn't know this big nugget didn't come from a frozen bag or McD's and it is a fresh chicken breast that is seared. and much healthier for her.

We are still working on getting the green veggies in, but it's a start. I'm using this analogy because just like consulting, if you don't ask questions and give options, it's hard to make a decision whether you are a child or not.

I've always said that people don't just wake up in the morning, roll over in bed , look over at their spouses and say "honey, I'm bored, lets sell the house!" There is always a reason, upsizing, down sizing, relo, foreclosure, etc. and our job is to uncover the real need and help them get what they need and want - even if they don't know what that is themselves. That is why asking the right questions, and uncovering needs allows us to open up more options for a win-win on both sides.