I read this HUH! this morning and immediately smirked. I suppose I’m jaded having worked in a psych-related field where I saw for years every burp and fart psychologized by some frisky Ph.D. or another. I told a co-worker once that the co-dependency crowd had effectively covered every conceivable form of behavior as a symptom of co-dependency, therefore destroying the meaning of their concern.
But then I began thinking that maybe we need to bring psychology into real estate, especially after the trauma from the last few years.
Real estate therapist (RET): Why are you afraid to lower the price of your home?
Seller: I’m not afraid, it’s just that…it’s…uh…it’s
RET: It will make you feel less than?
Seller: Maybe, I mean it’s a smaller price, and I just think…well…you know my neighbor has a large price…and I…uh
RET: You might be experiencing price envy.
Because now we’ll soon be seeing sellers entering treatment with PTSD, and perhaps we can help them before they hit bottom. We need to get to the source of their emotional turmoil. When your seller starts avoiding his emotional pain by asking about open houses and marketing strategy, stare deep into his eyes and ask:
But how do you feeeeel about your house not selling?
Allow the seller to express his/her feelings while you remain silent looking as thoughtful as possible. Say “ummm, I see” every so often.
Ask the seller if his mother nurtured him when he was young — let him know you are there for him and it’s okay to cry.
Let’s say you’re working with a buyer, a young lady who keeps making lowball offers beause she’s heard it’s a buyer’s market, but she’s being unrealistic and seems to relish attempting to make the seller suffer. Delve into her relationship with her father. Her father may have been an overbearing, emotionally-detached authoritarian, and the buyer may be trying to get attention and revenge by projecting her deep-seated resentments and pain onto the seller.
Allow her a safe place to vent her resentments, maybe a park, after you gently bring this transference to light.
Yes, real estate psychology, it’s time to start the healing process. When sellers and buyers over-react, let them know you understand that real estate transactions Read more