Cows and the agent of change

cowsMy mom was in town last week, visiting from Vancouver Island. We went golfing at her favorite local course – River Edge and out to lunch at Sole. We took Cheech (the dog) to Waterloo Park and we went up to St Jacobs Farmer’s Market (note to self: don’t wait for out-of-town visitors to visit St. Jacobs Farmer’s Market).

I put her on the train this morning. She’ll be visiting with friends in Kingston and then up to Ottawa to see my brother and his family. While we were waiting on the platform, out of the blue she asked me, “Why do cows always face the same direction while grazing in the field?” (maybe it was because everyone was looking west toward London for the arrival of their train.)

I don’t know. I’ve never happened upon that little nugget of wisdom. I’m not a cow expert, but I’ve wondered about cows, especially when I was in India many years ago.

But really and already my mind was on real estate.

I have a certain theme that relates to many things in life, but specifically to real estate and how people buy and sell it. This is it:

People do things a certain way because they think it is the way it is done. Another way – People do things the way they think is best (otherwise why would they do it that way).

For example: You are thinking of moving, say downsizing. What do you do?

Visit open houses to get a general idea about house values.

Read the real estate section of the newspaper. Pick up other real estate publications.

Visit MLS.ca and other real estate websites.

Talk with friends and “trusted advisors”.

You do all of the above perhaps over the course of a year (or more or less), don’t you? You do this because that is the way you think it is done. You’re gaining knowledge, testing the knowledge against new information. You’re getting comfortable. Your questions are getting better. You’ll hopefully be ready when the time is right.

That’s a good way. Just like the cows, all facing in the same direction, it’s what most people do.

But what if there is a better way?

Statistics show that 90% of all real estate transactions involve at least one realtor. Most people meet the realtor they work with somewhere during the search for their next home. Working with a realtor – your real estate trusted advisor – makes the process go along smoother, so long as you like working with each other, you trust and respect each other.

Here’s the point:

The sooner you find a realtor to help you understand what you are looking for and then help you find it, the less confusing and stressful the process will be.

I like to do things differently. Maybe you could too.

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