I say puppies, and you most likely picture the little guys posted here. There are certain words that produce general images. The same would be true if I said pizza, ocean, or sun. The image might be a little different, but for the most part I think we could agree that it would look similar for all of us. The puppy is a furry, wiggly, ball of love. Unfortunately, this is not true in real estate. I say house and I think we would all draw a different image. If someone is moving to Arizona they had better picture an adobe home with pastel stucco and a tiled roof. Off to Atlanta and it is a monster of a brick, two story Colonial. Here in the Twin Cities it could be anything from an English Tudor to a sprawling rambler. There I go again, what is sprawling? If you have a budget of $500,000+ it will be over 3500 sq. ft. If you are buying a $200,000 rambler 1500 sq ft. will be sprawling. As Realtors we often don't take the time to make sure we have our images on the same page. I think a large kitchen is 18x20, yet I will have buyers who tell me they want a large kitchen and are happy with 10x11. They are leaving an apartment with a short galley kitchen, so the sq 10x11 kitchen makes them happy. A Realtor can make a buyer and a seller angry when they don't have their images on target with the buyer. The buyer who is taken in a house with a small kitchen when they have requested a large kitchen will leave with a "mad on". The seller who spent 1/2 hour getting the house ready to watch the buyers come and go before they could even pull out of the garage, also has a "mad on." The agent who spent time to meet with these buyers and then were told it was the wrong kitchen also has a "mad on." This could all be avoided if we all take time to understand what we are picturing. Before I get in the car with my buyers I first go the to drawing board and have them color for me this house they are picturing.
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