The Third Way

Are you struggling to find people who believe it is the right time to buy or sell a home today? When it feels like nobody wants to move, and your livelihood depends on closing deals, this can be stressful.

Your brain is probably oscillating between "The market has to go back to how it was!" and "I'll never close another deal again!" It's survive vs thrive. All day every day.

There is a reason for this.

Your brain works this way because this is how you were made. Your brain seeks out the easiest decision. Which decision will cause me to thrive, or which decision allows me to survive. Always.

I learned this from Donald Miller in the book Building A Storybrand. Our brain is constantly trying to save energy, so it finds the quickest path to a decision and moves on. (GREAT book if you haven't read it.)

Given several options, or confusing messaging, the answer is often no. Given two options, the one that allows for you to survive, or thrive typically is yes. It's automatic.

Going back to where our thoughts are all day, do we really believe our only options are for the market to return to pandemic crazy, or we have to find a new job?

Let me introduce you to the third way. The way this concept was first taught to me was in relation to something Jesus said, that we all use today when someone does us wrong.

"But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. but if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other cheek also." Matthew 5:39 NRSV

We've all heard this, probably have repeated it as well. 

What I had always been taught is you're not supposed to fight back, you are supposed to let your enemy pummel you.

What nobody had ever shown me, or explained to me, is how important WHAT cheek was mentioned here.

If anyone strikes your RIGHT cheek, turn the other cheek also.

Assuming most people are right handed, an open hand slap would hit your left cheek. A backhand slap hits your right cheek. And in those days (and still today) you don't backhand your equal. It is something you do to someone who is less. It's what you do to someone who is not as strong, not as high status, or not worthy of your open hand.

To hit someone with an open hand, or a fist, you would be striking their left cheek.

And why would you give them your other cheek after you have been backhanded?

To put you on equal footing.

You do not respond with violence. You do not respond in kind. You elevate yourself and give your aggressor an opportunity to do better. You can hit me again, but if you do we will do it as equals. You have provided an out to the aggressor, and returned dignity to the victim. The shame in this scenario has moved to the person who thinks they are higher in status than the victim.

This is third way thinking. Another solution that provides a way out, and provides dignity for all.

The third way is the path where everyone wins.

And third way solutions are pretty rare because, as humans, we want the binary decision. Pass or fail. Live or die. Survive or thrive.

When you learn to seek out the third way, the path forward where everyone wins, and everyone survives, life changes. You see a new reality, and you see people in a whole new way.

When you seek out the third way you find superior solutions, superior answers, and you transform everything around you.

Let's think about a few ways people think, and what a third way solution might look like? I'm not going to give you answers here, think through them and what is another way forward with these scenarios?

1. We have to ban all guns or people will continue to shoot each other. (Do laws stop people from breaking them?)
2. If you don't support Ukraine you are a Putin puppet. (Where is the path to peace?)
3. If I tell them the truth about how I feel they will reject me. If I repeat the lie they will work with me. (Is honesty the best policy?)
4. The real risk in our economy right now is high interest rates. The fed has to lower rates or they will destroy us. (Does inflation pose any risk moving forward?)
5. The only way people will buy a home is if they think the market is going up. If they think it is going down I have to find a new job. (Is this actually true?)

If you approach each of these and try to look at them from a new angle it can make the statements look ridiculous. And yet, as humans, we dig in, and fight even harder that we are right. Always.

We take the route of less thinking. We take the route (we think) is black and white, and do not allow room in the gray for transformation.

And life is about transformation. For everyone, everywhere.

So what does this have to do with your real estate business, and the feelings you have daily about where the market is and the thoughts racing through your head?

Can you find a way to succeed when the market isn't hot?

Is it true you are unable to figure out how to set someone up for success in any market?

Is there opportunity in every market?

If I look hard enough can I find a way?

Do I really need to go find another career path if this person I am working with right now chooses not to move forward?

Does the decision of one person actually have any impact whatsoever on my worth as a human being, a child of God?

Is there a path forward where everyone wins, my business thrives, and the current condition of the market does not matter?

If "the market returns to pandemic frenzy or I find a new job" are your options, can you find a third way? A path where the market doesn't have to return to a frenzy, and you can keep your career?

The answer is obviously yes.

And right now, in 2023, there's a really clear path to a thriving business in a declining market.

I'd like to introduce you to the third way. This is the path where you have a superior option to "market goes back to 2021" and "I have to find a different job."

The way where sellers want to sell, and get the price they want, and buyers want to buy, and get a home they can afford.

The agent gets to close deals, and the buyer and seller walk away from the closing table feeling like they just took part in the opportunity of a lifetime. Everyone wins, lives are transformed, and everyone thrives.

The Assumable Mortgage.

When you can guide your clients through an assumable mortgage transaction, they get to experience real estate in a whole new way.

The seller:

• Has the most in demand home in the area
• Sells first, as demand is highest
• Gets their price, as demand is highest

The buyer:

• Gains certainty as the interest rate is already locked in and volatile, or rising rates do not matter
• Saves money every month as their payment is lower than it would be on the other homes in the area - by a wide margin
• Saves years of payments, and tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of dollars over the life of the loan

The Assumable Mortgage is real estate's third way right now. And nobody is talking about it. Nobody is trying to figure these out. Everyone is hoping the market returns to pandemic level crazy, rates drop and inflation roars.

A few headlines:

• Existing home sales surged 14.5% in Feb, ending a 12 month streak of declines
• Same headline here, here, and here
• Mortgage demand increases again, but interest rates are rising
• Mortgage demand rises for the third week in a row as rates continue to fall

All real estate news, when it comes from real estate companies, is filtered through the, "It's a great time to buy right now!" Filter or it isn't released.

If it's not a great time to buy I'll have to find a new job.

Where are the agents, companies, people screaming from the rooftops that the opportunity of a lifetime exists RIGHT NOW, IN THIS MARKET?! And will continue for the next several years! Where are the people guiding buyers to save a fortune, and sellers to have the hottest home in the area?

Any agent who serves their clients well, looks out for their needs and understands how to find, structure, sell and close assumable deals is going to crush the next few years.

And the agents who find this first will have the advantage of the original local expert. The person who figured out how to help before everyone else followed them.

And the agents who filter everything through the, "It's a great time to buy a house right now!" Filter, or worse yet, never move off, "People only buy if they think the market is going up!" Are going to fall behind.

Over the next few years there will be a lot of trust lost. Just like there was in 2007-2010.

And there will be a lot of trust gained. Just like there was in 2007-2010. 

The path you choose, the advice you give, the way you serve is going to change your life between now and 2025. How it changes your life is up to you.

Choose the third way. The path where everyone wins, the solution is amazing, and everyone walks away thrilled.

And because I want you to thrive, I have created a course to teach you all about assumable mortgages. Why the opportunity RIGHT NOW is enormous. Then how to find, structure and sell them. And finally, what specifically adding them to your expertise and model will do for your business.

The readers of this column are going to find the third way through this market, become the experts and leaders where they are locally, and they will thrive.

I'd encourage you to start looking for the third way when you are making decisions. When you are looking for the clear way forward. It's truly amazing how often the best solution is actually the one your brain will try hardest to ignore.