Most buyers begin their search for the perfect home by searching online, stopping by an open house, or buying what a family member tells them to. Nothing hurts my heart more than hearing stories of buying decisions driven by emotion instead of a purposeful plan. Emotions can run wild during a hot real estate market! You must be prepared before jumping in the home buying process to find the perfect one.

Here’s How to Win

Create Meaningful Conversation

How easy is it to have meaningful conversation with those most important to you – your family, friends, and significant other. Start by discussing openly about each other’s best moments in life such as your best adventures, travel experience, and simple successes. By having this, you can connect the dots of the past and see what you want your future home to be. Steve Jobs said it best in his Stanford commencement speech.

“…you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.”

– Steve Jobs

You can then drive this conversation to real estate experiences. You don’t have to talk to a real estate agent or a mortgage broker. All you need is to gather the people that means the most to you. This allows you to find the perfect home before even looking for one.

Craft Meaningful Real Estate Questions

Ask purposeful questions that you can layer and take deeper through casual conversation. For example, asking others to share a moment  when they were the most excited to live in a new house, city, or neighborhood. Preplanning specific questions will help drive the conversation to where you want it to be. Then you can add layers to that by asking supporting inquiries and real estate thought joggers.

Don’t be afraid to go deep…

• What moment made you the most proud?
• What contributed to that experience?
• How important was this to you?

Use real estate thought joggers…

• Was it the brand new upgrades that you loved?
• Or owning downtown near all the action?
• How about the fix-up potential in a home?
• Were you excited about being away from home?

Sharing the most exciting moments in your life creates a positive energy in the room. The relationships become stronger while also discovering more about yourself. You are connecting the dots of the past by simply relating to stories that made you feel the most alive. These stories allow you to connect, feel safe, and create eagerness for what’s to come. That’s where a Must Have List will emerge!

Uncover your Core Values and Strengths 

Hearing their stories, you can now decide if that also resonates with you. In my own family, the core values and beliefs they have around  quality and ability to improve properties also inspires me. Once you’ve uncovered your core values and strengths, it’s time to begin developing your Must Have List. These are clear objectives that cut through indecision and eliminate buyer’s remorse. That clarity will guide you during the home buying process, especially if and when you aren’t finding the results that you’re looking for or the pressure is too high. Having a meaningful real estate conversation first before creating your list, it will give a lot purpose and intention behind it.

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