Forrest’s Blog

I already know that many of you are taking exception with the very title of this blog.  

Be patient, control yourself, and let me express my grave concern with the label “Buyer’s Market”.  In fact we need to discuss the dangers associated with putting any labels on any market condition.  Why?  Well, the primary reason is that any label represents a singular viewpoint . . . not that of everyone looking to potentially take advantage of the current market conditions.

Let’s start with the seller who has had held their property for five year or more and wants to trade up in this market.  For this seller it may be an excellent seller’s market because of their ability to sell at a price well above what originally paid while being able to purchase a bargain after selling their property.  Again, labels look at life from one person’s viewpoint and ignores the many possibilities that may be right in front of us.  Yes, labels may blind us and our clients to opportunities that may be staring us in the face.

Next, if it is such a “Buyer’s Market”, then why are so many potential buyers sitting on the sidelines waiting for the “bottom of the market” to be reported by the media?  Certainly these folks that have cancelled otherwise good escrows at the last minute to wait for a better deal do not believe it to be a buyer’s market.  This makes about as much sense as the buyers who were willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars over market value to buy a house in what was labeled a “Seller’s Market”.  Why was there such an urgency to buy at that time and now now?  Certainly the prices are generally better now and interest rates remain very low.

 Here’s my larger problem with labels!  Labels have a tendency to take our mindset away from “The Now” to the past or the future.  It’s as if the past was a better time to do this or that . . . or the future will be a better time to act on our needs.  But what control do we have over the future?  How can be go back in time to recapture a lost opportunity?  Without some serious help from H. G. Wells . . . we can’t!  We can only deal effectively with the present.  That’s perfectly okay because there are always opportunities in every market for those who are present to them. 

The key is to focus all of our energy on “The Now” because “Now” is all we can control.  But if we do this, we will find extraordinary market opportunities that are available right now . . . today!  More importantly, this is true in any and every market.  So remove the labels that distract us to days gone by or a future that we can’t guarantee.  Focus on “Now”!  Focus on today!  This is the only way to build a business that succeeds in all markets and market cycles.  It keeps us focused on the reality of “What Is” rather that distracting us with “What Isn’t” or “What Will Be”.

 So let’s remove all the labels and just address it as the “current market”.  It’s not any particular label . . . it simply is what it is!