We Decide With Our Guts and Hire Our Brains as Lawyers.
There’s a genre of video that shows up online every election cycle.
Someone reads a quote to a stranger on the street. Says a politician on the other side said it. The stranger nods along, agrees with every word, maybe adds their own commentary about how reasonable it sounds.
Then the interviewer reveals who actually said it.
The person on camera backpedals. Gets flustered. Sometimes gets mad.
We watch that and think: what a rube. Didn’t even evaluate the idea on its own merits. Just heard a name and reacted.
Here’s the part nobody likes hearing. That’s not a them problem. Everyone is prone to this sort of thing.
We decide with emotion first. Then we go looking for the reasons. Most of the time we don’t even notice we did it in that order, because the reasons show up so fast it feels like they came first.
Car salesmen have known this forever. Their whole job is getting you to want the car before you’ve priced it out and started the paperwork. Once you want it, you’ll find your own reasons the payment makes sense. Even though it’s more than you said you wanted to spend just a little earlier.
It’s not just dealing with salesmen. It’s most of what moves us, all day, every day, if we’re not paying attention.
I can tell you it’s smart to have a real handle on your finances. I can tell you that if you own land or commercial property, it makes sense to know roughly what it’s worth, what’s selling around it, what the county or the highway department is planning nearby. Not because you’re doing anything about it. Just because things change, sometimes fast, and it’s better to know than not know.
You’ll agree with all of that. Nobody argues with it.
And most people still won’t do anything about it.
Not because it’s hard. Because of what happens in your chest the moment you think about picking up the phone.
If an agent calls about your property, most people’s first thought isn’t “great, information.” It’s a mental preview of getting talked into something. Buzzwords. Pressure. A conversation that ends somewhere you didn’t want to go.
Or it’s the family part. Land that’s been sitting in the name a long time carries more than a market value. Selling it, or even looking like you might, comes with a conversation you’re not ready to have with your brother or your kids.
I know because that’s the same thing that runs through my head when it’s my property.
None of that has to be true here.
Looking isn’t selling. Nobody has to know you looked. You’re not committing to a conversation with your family, a listing agreement, or anything else. You’re just getting the numbers so you’re not guessing later, when guessing costs more.
Give yourself permission to look. That’s smart to do, and you don’t have to go further.
PS- Most landowners aren’t planning to sell today.
But things change quickly. When they do, the people who already know where they stand tend to come out ahead of the ones who are finding out for the first time under pressure.
That’s what the MBR Land Reality Check is for. Recent sales, what’s listed nearby, development pressure, the stuff that doesn’t show up from the road.
Is it a bad idea to know where things stand?
PPS- If you’re not ready for a Reality Check but you liked this one, you can sign up below and get these posts in your inbox.
Leave a Reply