The One Thing Review

Chapter Title: The Lies: They mislead and derail us, Pages 29-32

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These four pages have some very powerful content. Here are a few of the takeaways.

• It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.

• Over time, myths and mistruths get thrown around so often they eventually feel familiar and start to sound like the truth.

• The problem is we tend to act on what we believe even when what we believe isn’t anything we should.

• Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.

Those four points are heavy enough for us to stop right there, but let’s keep going.

Whether business or personal, we all tend to make at least a couple of decisions each day based on a “borrowed philosophy.” Meaning each day we’re making many decisions based on what someone told us is “correct.” I don’t believe that there’s anything wrong with that as long as we are getting the results that we want.

The problem is that most people living off of borrowed philosophies aren’t getting the results that they hoped for, and instead of changing their philosophy, they change their goals. Deciding what to believe is tough when you don’t have experience in a certain area.

The real estate business is full of warped philosophies. What other reason would the average realtor only close 8-12 deals per year? Why else would 15% of the agents be closing 85% of the business? Why else would so many Americans be facing foreclosure? What’s happening in the real estate business that would lead to these terrible statistics?

I’ll tell you what’s happening, people are not doing any RESEARCH. Most of us will take the information that we’re given without even Googling the person giving the information. Even worse, we won’t even research the information that the stranger gave us. I say us because I’ve done this 100’s of time, and although I don’t make that a habit anymore, every now and then I’ll “borrow” an unproven philosophy that I haven't researched.

One of the biggest mistakes that I’ve made in my real estate career is adopting one of my first broker’s philosophies. I had just gotten my license and I had been doing a lot of research on investing. I was approved for a couple of loans and I was excited about a couple of deals I had found. One deal was the duplex that I was living in, and I found another duplex close to the airport; both were two bedroom properties.

I told my broker about the properties and she gave me the stupidest advice that I’ve ever taken in real estate; she said “Don’t buy a 2 bedroom house because those are not popular.” The information was stupid because at the time I was happily paying $750/month living in my 2 bedroom duplex, and so was the entire neighborhood. And the property by the airport….it was property by the airport!!

I ended up buying nothing for another 2-3 years and the next property was more expensive; I still own it and it’s still a headache property to this day. Who can I blame though? Do I blame the licensed broker for giving me the advice? Or do I blame myself for not doing my own research? The latter of course.

Sometimes we’re so eager to make something happen that we avoid ALL the warning signs. I’ve dealt with so many clients that almost get upset when I’m trying to go over a contract with them. They just want to hurry up and sign. Why? Is this something that they were taught? Is this something that they’ll teach their kids? What the heck?

This is a passionate topic for me as you may have noticed :) Situations like this are one of the reasons that I prefer not to deal with buyers and sellers directly; most are in too much of a rush to do any research so that they can ask better questions. Then they get into a mess and want to then blame it on everyone but themselves, sheeeesh!

Team Woods is putting out a lot of information for everyone to research. We also enjoy reading things that you all find interesting and informative, so please don’t hesitate to share. The Real Estate business is a serious one, so we should be researching and learning new information accordingly. Would you agree?

How much research are you doing? Who are you getting your information from? Why do you trust the person? Are you asking enough questions? Are you growing as fast as you think you should be growing? Are you “keeping it real” with yourself?

It’s time to change the game. We can do this by becoming more knowledgeable about our philosophies. We need to be comfortable with asking uncomfortable questions. We need to stop allowing people to push their unproven philosophies on us unchallenged. This alternative approach would definitely change the game, and I stand behind that philosophy 100%!

Food For Thought

• Scott sent me a video about 5 years ago. In the video Rachel Maddow interviews a few “uninformed voters.” See the results for yourself.

Until next time, make it a great day!!

~Matthew

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