The real estate industry has historically operated with information asymmetries that benefited practitioners at the expense of clients. Agents knew more than buyers and sellers about market conditions, property histories, and transaction processes, and this knowledge gap supported practices that ranged from merely unhelpful to actively problematic. The internet demolished many of these asymmetries, but...
The conversation every agent dreads rarely goes as badly as feared, but avoiding it guarantees worse outcomes. Sellers with unrealistic price expectations, buyers convinced they deserve discounts that markets do not support, clients on both sides who need to hear truths they would rather ignore: these situations define much of what makes real estate challenging....
When markets move predictably, managing client expectations is relatively straightforward. Recent trends project forward with reasonable confidence, and clients can calibrate expectations against stable baselines. Volatile markets destroy these certainties. Prices swing in both directions. Properties that would have sold quickly sit on the market. Buyers who hesitated suddenly face competition they did not anticipate....
Europe’s building stock was largely constructed before anyone worried about energy efficiency. The charming older homes that characterise so much of the continent were designed for abundant cheap energy and limited insulation expectations. Now these properties face pressure from multiple directions: rising energy costs, tightening regulations, changing buyer preferences, and simple environmental responsibility. The agents...