Homebuyers are an interesting study. Watching people make their home buying decisions has brought me to conclusion that every decision that every one of us makes is based in emotion. You heard me, it's all about emotion. Before you deny what I am describing to you, let me begin with me.Painful as revelation is for me, even I as a Naval Academy graduate, retired Navy pilot, and home inspector extraordinaire, make decisions based on emotion. It took some bridging for me to get there, but I am there.
Have you ever had a feeling in your gut about a decision? A hunch? That's emotion. We make decisions that reflect how we feel about event or expect to feel when outcome is completed. People, especially those that are highly educated and technically trained, rarely realize and usually never concede that their decisions are based in emotion.
Before discussing particulars of emotional responses, I will admit that logic does play a role. What ends up happening is, after near immediate emotional response and decision, backfilling of logic begins. Logic is used to make emotion seem reasonable.
Emotional responses as I see them fall into two broad categories. The first is desire for pleasure and second is avoidance of pain. When we are contemplating a decision, we weigh balance of desire for and probability of a pleasurable outcome with fear of and distain for pain.
What real estate agents are faced with is responding to issues presented as logic that are truly emotions. It takes a tremendous talent to listen to logic, but hear emotion. What are people really saying? That is challenge.