Salespeople in every industry usually work on a commission basis. Some may have a small salary or a draw against commission, but ultimately, a salesperson's compensation usually has a direct correlation to closed transactions. Because of this, salespeople sometimes will tell people what they think that they want to hear rather than telling them the truth. This is pervasive in the world of sales, and not limited to any particular industry.
In a recent post entitled, The Lost Art of Listening, I spoke of my experience in dealing with salespeople trying to get me to purchase a timeshare. The post was about how the salesperson didn't listen to the answers of the questions that he asked, which resulted in him trying to show us the benefits of something that we clearly stated that we had no interest in. Ironically, he didn't seem to listen to his own presentation either, as he contradicted himself within a matter of minutes.
We were taken on a tour of an existing timeshare unit. It was built in 2001, and was in decent shape. The layout featured a kitchen, dining area, living room and full bathroom downstairs and two bedrooms and a full bathroom upstairs...plenty of space for a comfortable family vacation. The salesperson told us that the couch in the living room was a sofa bed, and suggested that we could bring guests along on vacation and still have the privacy of the bedrooms being upstairs. Nice feature, clear benefit. So far, so good.
After touring the entire unit, we returned to the kitchen to see the floor plan of the new units that were under construction. The company that was selling the new units was not the builder of the model that we toured with the bedrooms upstairs, although they have some sort of working relationship that wasn't made very clear. In any case, the new units featured some nice upgrades, and look like they are going to be even better than the existing units.
The biggest difference between the unit that we toured, and the units that are being built (aside from the upgrades) is that the new units have all of the living space on one level. Had the salesperson just shown us the floor plan and talked about the upgrades and the amenities in the new units, everything would have been fine. But here is where he made a mistake. After selling us on the benefit of having bedrooms upstairs just moments earlier, he proceeded to point out that the new units were better because we wouldn't have to "lug all our bags up a flight of stairs."
This was a tremendous presentation error in my mind, although in fairness, I am a sales professional that notices inconsistencies more than the average person. My wife didn't notice this until I pointed it out, although it may be because she was more focused on my daughter than what the salesperson was saying. Whether it was caught or not, it was a mistake to tout the benefits of the old unit having stairs, then talking about the negatives of stairs and touting the benefits of the single-level living space featured in the new units.
One of the biggest problems existing in the real estate profession today is that too many agents and brokers spend their days telling people what they think that they want to hear, in order to obtain their business, rather than telling people what they need to hear to have a successful transaction. We need look no further than the abundance of overpriced homes on the market. If agents and brokers stood their ground and refused to take overpriced listings, there would be less inventory of homes on the gap between supply and demand would begin to close.
Just as the salesperson telling us what he thought we would want to hear, agents and brokers do the same thing everyday with homeowners. In the end, no one really benefits from this practice. Overpriced homes don't sell, so there is no benefit to the owners of these homes. The agents don't benefit because they are spending money to market homes that aren't going to sell. Even though the agent might find a buyer or two, the reality is that overpriced homes get very little traffic, so this benefit is far from being a certainty.
This problem extends to homebuyers and their agents as well. How many times will an agent take a buyer to a home that is clearly out of their price range because the buyer requested to see it? In the current market, many buyers have convinced themselves that they can "steal" a home because they feel that most sellers are desperate and that every listing price is very negotiable. Some homes are drastically overpriced, while others are priced to sell. Agents are not helping these homebuyers if they tell them to "just make an offer."
What happens if the home truly is priced to sell, and it is everything that the homebuyer is looking for? The most likely outcome is that they will not get their offer accepted, and then they will compare every home that they look at in the future to the one that they thought they could purchase because an agent told them to "just make an offer."
Some people tell people what they think that they want to hear because they don't want to offend them or hurt their feelings. Others do it because they are more concerned about getting business then filling a need for the client / consumer. Regardless of the reason, telling people what you think that they want to hear is not likely to produce a positive outcome. If you are honest with people, and genuinely look out for their best interests, you will be respected and more likely to achieve success.
The following is a Long Island Real Estate Market Trend Report featuring mid-year statistical trends from six school districts in Suffolk County and six school districts in Nassau County. 
The Waterfront Center of Oyster Bay
Long Island Bank Owned Homes
Nearly seven months ago, I wrote part 2 of a 4-part series with the intention of completing it a long time ago. As is often the case, life happened, and this series kept getting pushed down the priority list. Since it has been so long since the last installment, it would probably be helpful to go back and start from the beginning. 
When I started working at Billboard, I was in my early 20's. A good portion of the staff was made up of twenty-somethings as well, and since we spent so much time together, we became friends outside of work. Much like my grade school experience or my freshman dorm, working at Billboard provided a nice comfort zone for me. Billboard was by no means a perfect working environment, and many of us disagreed with the corporate policies and management decisions, but we had each other to talk to (usually after work over drinks at a local bar or during our lunch hour). Looking back, I think that it's safe to say that many of us stayed with the company as long as we did because of our network of friends, more than the opportunities that working there provided.
Some people believe that there is no such thing as coincidence, and that things happen for a reason. Those that subscribe to this theory often times believe that people are destined to be in our lives for a specific time period, and then move on. I'm not sure what to believe, although my life experience would seem to indicate that this theory is true. However, this doesn't mean that people that were once in your life cannot come back again. 
