I’ve had a few experiences recently that have reminded me of an important but sometimes hard-to-believe truth:
We absolutely CANNOT make assumptions about what people know, based on their resume of ostensibly “having experience.”
And this cuts both ways: it’s just as true about me as it is about others.
Let me give you a few examples.
Today, I spent time on the phone talking to a financial advisor who had been in the mortgage lending world for 30 years. As I made the point that their client’s seller financing loan was risky because the income from the property won’t cover the monthly payment… they had no clue what I was talking about. None whatsoever. I couldn’t freaking believe it; I was flabbergasted that this was a foreign concept to him, given his “experience.” After all, it was so familiar to me.
The truth: just because they had extensive experience in “mortgage lending” doesn’t mean they know the nuances of seller financing. The mistake was MINE, for making assumptions and extrapolating their expertise into nuances where it didn’t exist.
Here’s another one. Recently, I met with a developer building beautiful properties at multi millions of dollars. They were stressing about their expensive, near-maturity financing for the project. As we talked about refinancing options, I was shocked to learn they were not tuned in to what I considered some fairly obvious refi options. Here I was, literally intimidated by the size and scope of their project and projecting all this grandeur onto them, only to find they were stumped by something I considered kind of basic.
The truth: just because they had extensive experience in construction and development didn’t mean they knew anything about finance structures. The mistake was MINE, for making assumptions and extrapolating their expertise into nuances where it didn’t exist.
And as I mentioned, this truth cuts both ways.
I’m sure there are people who make assumptions about me and my experience, too. They may likely assume that because I’ve been a full-time real estate investor for 11 years and have spent millions of dollars on rehabbing properties, that my expertise would result in me knowing a lot about construction.
That assumption, I can assure you, would be wrong.
Or they might assume that if they asked me to explain the difference between accepting an offer with a VA loan verses an FHA, that I could be articulate on that. Truth? I couldn’t. No freaking clue. That’s not my area.
So here’s the corollary lesson; almost just the opposite way of framing the exact same lesson:
We tend to UNDERrvalue the expertise we have, and assume others must have it (or at least some of it) if they too are “experienced.”
But this simply isn’t true.
The truth is that our areas of expertise are HIGHLY, HIGHLY, HIGHLY nuanced. We don’t have expertise about “real estate,” we have expertise about topics FAR more specific than that.
In my case, I have DEEP expertise in off-market relationship-based negotiations directly with Sellers to buy properties nobody else knows are for sale, with Seller Financing.
It’s INSANELY specific.
So what do we take away from this?
Well, there are probably lots of takeaways, but here’s the one I want you to have right now:
Don’t be intimidated by other people because you PERCEIVE them to have more “experience” than you.
Chances are their experience is in a different nuance than yours. Stated differently, they are extremely adept at playing THEIR game, but not necessarily adept AT ALL at playing the game you’re about to play with them.
As a more literal example, sometimes my coaching clients send marketing letters to sellers, and get a call back from a seller who has also been a realtor for 20 years.
Immediately, they feel intimidated. But there’s no reason to feel that way, because the game you’re trying to play with them (the game of off-market negotiation and seller financing) is COMPLETELY different than the game they are familiar with.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on these thoughts. 🙂 Shoot me an email and let me know what you think.
