Mike Browning

Tag: Real Estate

  • Ambushed By A Salesman In Real Time

    Ambushed By A Salesman In Real Time

    We both know why you should do certain things. And why you don’t.

    I keep coming back to this one: people put off stuff they already know they should deal with. Not because they’re lazy. Because they’re avoiding a hassle they’re pretty sure is coming.

    Take your land. You’re not looking to sell it today. But knowing what it’s worth, and what’s happening around it, can’t hurt you. You’d have the information sitting there if anything changes. If a neighboring tract comes up for sale, you’re not finding out last. And if it’s a good deal, you might be ready to move on it first.

    So why do most people pass when someone offers them free information?

    Mostly because they’ve been burned before.

    Mention you’re the slightest bit curious what your property’s worth and your mind jumps straight to a timeshare pitch. Numbers too good to be true. A guy who won’t take no for an answer.

    You ask one question. The phone starts ringing. And doesn’t stop.

    So you let it go. Not worth the hassle.

    That happened to me last week. My truck’s had a couple of recalls sitting open for a while (nothing major), and I’d been putting it off because I didn’t want to spend an afternoon at a dealership. A card came in the mail with a QR code, said I could schedule online. Figured I’d try it. The site barely worked, so I gave up after a few minutes.

    Except it worked fine, for what it was actually built to do.

    Within minutes my phone rang. Sales manager at the dealership. I let it go to voicemail. He wanted to know what car I was interested in and when I could come in for a test drive.

    A few minutes later, an email. Somehow he’d copied my wife on it too, asking what we were “working a deal” on.

    I asked for service. They tried to close me on a car I never mentioned.

    That’s the move. That’s why people stop raising their hand.

    When you raise yours with me, that’s not what happens. I’ll reach out, sure. Lightly. No pressure, no script.

    You can decide for yourself what that’s worth.

    PS -Most landowners aren’t planning to sell today.

    But things change. The ones who already understand the market tend to handle that better when it does.

    That’s what the MBR Land Reality Check is for. It looks at nearby sales, current listings, development pressure, and the details affecting value that aren’t obvious from the road.

    Is it a bad idea to know where things stand?

    Get Yours Here

    PPS- If you’re not ready for a Reality Check but enjoy reading about land, markets, and negotiation, you can sign up below and get these posts in your inbox.

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  • Two Papers In One

    Two Papers In One

    Who will you trust — a pro, or a greenhorn with no skin in the game?

    A few years ago I decided to stop watching the news. Turned out to be one of the smartest things I’ve done in a while.

    I’m less worried, my mind seems to work better, I get more done, etc.

    I highly recommend it.

    And don’t worry about being “uninformed.” The way we’re constantly bombarded by media, you can’t really avoid it altogether. I’ve found that if something is big and important enough to actually matter, it will find its way to you.

    So all you really miss is the noise. Give it a try for a month and see how you feel.

    It’s easy to go back to the old way if you don’t like it.

    One exception is that I still look at the Dallas Morning News website a few times a week. I enjoy their sports coverage and also want to see if anything’s happening locally I need to know about.

    But if I’m not careful, I start reading headlines and get pulled down the rabbit hole of thinking the paper is nowhere near what it once was in terms of being a balanced source.

    And then I spend time writing about it.

    More often than I probably should.

    It can be entertaining though. Pretty often you’ll see what I think of as the “two papers in one” effect.

    One day you’ll read about the “housing shortage” in DFW.

    The next, you’ll see headlines saying builders are slowing down because inventory’s piling up and nothing’s moving.

    So which is it?

    To be fair, it’s more complicated than that.

    DFW isn’t one market — it’s dozens of sub-markets layered on top of each other. Some areas are on fire. Others are cooling. And sometimes they trade places within a few months.

    In some areas, local regulations and land costs can make it nearly impossible to build housing at a price that fits the budget of a middle-class family. So there’s a “shortage.”

    In others, the relative affordability and better schools make it where houses almost can’t be built fast enough — at least until interest rates rise and put the brakes on it. So there’s a “slowdown.”

    In other words, market reality can be very different just a few miles away.

    That’s why broad headlines are almost useless when you’re trying to make a real decision. They can give you a general sense of the climate, but they can’t tell you what’s happening on your street, your corner, or your tract.

    If you own land, a lot, or a development site, your situation could be totally different than what the media portrays.

    That’s where talking with someone who works these deals every day actually helps — because “the market” isn’t one big story.

    It’s a bunch of small ones playing out at the same time. Written by increasingly young reporters who lack the context to really report on the market. Anyone old enough to have seen a Cowboys Super Bowl Championship can tell you today’s rates aren’t particularly high by historical standards. And that what passes for a slow market today would be a roaring success 15-20 years ago.

    We’ve been trained to view the newspaper as an authority, but it’s really there to get your attention, not provide expert analysis.

    Is it ever a bad time to talk to a real expert who shoots straight and knows the local dirt?

    You know what to do:

    Got a lot you might want to sell?
    Get a FREE, no-obligation report on what it could sell for today.
    Get Your Lot Valuation

    Own land instead?
    Get a report for that here:
    Get Your Land Value

    Just a glutton for punishment?
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