Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, you need to avoid confirmation bias. Here’s what I mean by that.
One of the tendencies of behavioral economics is something called “confirmation bias,” or when people pay more attention to things that confirm what they already believe.
How does this apply to real estate?
I’ve seen home sellers who have an idea of the price they want to sell for choose an agent only because they confirm that exact number.
You want to avoid confirmation bias—both in real estate and life in general.
In other cases, I’ve worked with sellers who insisted on listing their homes a little bit high in terms of price. Once I gave them feedback, I would say something like, “We’ve had 11 people see your home in the past two weeks—10 of them said it was priced too high, and one said it was priced right.”
Their response? “See? I told you it was priced right.”
As for buyers, I’ve worked with people who wanted to buy a foreclosure property because a friend’s cousin bought one eight years ago. To which I ask: What about the other thousand people you know who haven’t bought a foreclosure property?
The point is, you want to avoid confirmation bias—both in real estate and life in general.
As always, if you have any questions about this or any other real estate topic or you’re thinking of buying or selling a home, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to help you.
