Using perspective in selling and our responsibility

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Doc Searls, in a recent post talks about how the war in Iraq is depicted differently by different media outlets; some choose to highlight positive elements and some choose to paint the most gloomy picture possible. It got me thinking about the people in our industry and the immense responsibility we have to our customers to provide an objective, balanced picture of the current market as opposed to a depiction that serves our best interests.

When a Realtor presses a home buyer to buy a larger home than the home buyer is looking for because the home buyer can qualify for a larger mortgage, the Realtor is not acting in the best interest of the buyer. When a loan officer presses a homeowner to maximize the amount of the loan they can take on their property to increase their personal commission, the loan officer is not acting in the best interest of the home owner.

While these are objectionable behaviors they are usually easy to identify. The more insidious part of this pressure selling is a false depiction of current market conditions to lull buyers/owners in to a false sense of security about their decision. The Realtor or loan officer can unfairly leverage their position as an authority to paint whatever picture they want about the market and set the context of the consumer’s decision in a way that predisposes the consumer to make a decision that leads to a more favorable outcome for the Realtor/loan officer.

A Realtor saying that "the local market is really competitive" right now to induce a higher offer from the buyer, or the loan officer saying "houses are still appreciating at a fast pace locally" to induce the owner to maximize their loan are unfairly acting as a gatekeeper of important knowledge that consumers need to make their decisions and are spinning it to their personal advantage.

While news outlets have the journalistic right to depict the story how they see most accurate there is little excuse for a Realtor or loan officer to make statements that infuse their personal opinion or sales technique in to the facts surrounding the existing home and mortgage markets.