New Orleans Real Estate News: Do Your Clients Speak Real Estate?

Good point, Lisa.  There is a whole lexicon specific to our industry that we all had to learn.  Part of our duty to our clients is to make sure they are well informed.   I do think we need to have an attitude that invites our clients to ask questions when they have them.  Throwing out a bunch of anagrams and contract language can be very intimidating unless it is accompanied by an understanding and welcoming attitude.

Lisa - Good reminder for us.  We have to be careful in the jargon we use as to not make the process harder to understand, but easier to understand so everyone is on the same page.  Keeping it simple isn't always easy to explain sometimes complex products & terms in Real Estate, but it is necessary to develop that very skill.

I remember what it was like when I went to real estate school. I didn't understand a darn thing and it was a foreign language....I ALWAYS keep that in mind so when I'm talking to my clients I make sure to take in simple language and ASK them if they understand. It  is important to make sure they understand what's going on. I believe that is also the key for me in being a "person" and not just business only. :)

Lisa, A wonderful feature, CONGRATS and your daughter happens to be right!  (I know that look so well :). I love your analogy to the terminology that some may use in explaining things to their clients and if they have been doing it, you can be sure they will remember this post!  Just wonderful.

I like your daughter's response on why she's failing French...great post.

Maybe she should try Spanish.  I would imagine that there are more Spanish speakers there, than French.  My advise, crack down on her activities, those that she does like.  Maybe then, she'll try a little harder.  Oh, I don't like the French either.

This post is a good "kick in the pants". Sometimes we, Realtors, get so used to the process that we forget others aren't as well versed. Thanks for the reminder.

Point taken, some people have no sympathy for those that got in over their head. Well, they really didn't understand what they were signing and were relying on the professionals they paid to look out for their best interests. Right now I am trying to help a client who was suckered into one of these loans. Fortunately, the loan officer is going to jail. A small amount of justice for those of us stuck cleaning up the mess.

Excellent Post and really good food for thought...  I try and give my customers as much information as possible and explain everything.

Lisa,

Most of us probably are guilty of speaking French to our customers. Partly because we think it makes us look professional. Maybe it does, but it also turns off the customers because they don't know what you are talking about. Time to wake up.

I certainly can see where the terminology we use can be intimidating to those that are not familiar with it.  I have heard many comments about the alphabet soup labels after real estate agents names.  Do clients know what they stand for?  Do they care?

 

Thanks for a great read.

Hi Lisa - I completely agree with you. The best agents are those who know real estate well enough to be able to communicate it in whatever way is best understood by their clients. It takes flexibility on our part, as well as a keen ability to really know our clients.

Good post, Lisa.  Too many times have I begun a conversation going on about DTI, LTV, and such, only to see my clients respond with a glazed look, like a deer in the headlights.  Always a good reminder to "KISS!"

Lisa, Oh boy was this written so well. Such a complete and concise tutorial on the merits of communicating and not assuming someone else's knowledge basis. Actually, I'm wrong. This is written so much better than a tutorial, that word connotes toaster oven manual. This is so NOT that. Should be featured twice.

P.S. I'm off to roll in poison oak.

Great post Lisa.  It reminds us that we need to stop speaking realtor and explain the terms to our clients.

BTW, Lisa, Please tell your daughter that I feel for her.  French is a difficult language to learn -- I've been there.  A lot of the letters in each word are not even pronounced!  It takes a strong ear as well as strong studying.  Once she learns, it is a beautiful sound.  It was my mother's first language, but unfortunately, she did not teach it to us.  It was too hard when there was no one else around that spoke it.  We kids were blessed as teenagers to take a trip to visit all of her cousins and hear her speaking with them.  It sounded like beautiful music!  They were so patient with us non-speakers. 

Good wishes for your daughter!  I should have continued to study myself.

C'est formidable!  L'argot est difficile a apprendre si vous ne savez rien du tout!  Quel domage que votre fille n'aime pas le francais mais je suis d'accord que c'est dificile. 

Who knows how right that is after years of not practicing at all!  I used to be able to dream in French but alas, no more.

I usually know when I've gone into Realtor speak by the glazed look on their face.  Then it's time to back up.  What I'm finding lately is even when we've gone over it multiple times and they seem to get it, the info doesn't stick.  So I write it down.  And the info does't stick.  It sticks once it's relevant to what they are doing.  Then the aha moment arrives and we make progress...

Wow!  My first feature!  I run off to drive the car pool and look what happens :)  I'll be back after dinner to reply to everyone...thanks so much.

Real estate is pretty simple compared to my previous work in technology.  They speak in acronyms.  Although today I thought my structural engineer was speaking in another language too.

good post. I have to remember to speak clearly, and remember my first home purchase before I start rambling with terms and abbreviations that people don't understand

You are so right. It is extremely important to explain the terminology we use. Great post & congrats on your first feature!

Lisa, excellent post! What you write is so true. We have an enormous responsibility when we represent our clients. On the flip side, perhaps agents that aren't able to explain terms, offers, addendums, etc... clearly to clients don't understand fully themselves. Maybe they know enough to "do" but not "teach".

Ategray ostpay! Ia eferpre igpay atinlay!

great post. we can get cought up in jargon pretty quickly.

 Excellent...

First, I can relate to the child whom I have posed the question "Whats up in your Biology class" I hear many different things but I am happy to have that brief conversation. I have even been accused of being a stalker freak. Hmm at least I care.

As for the client, I try to break down the barrier of terminology. It is soo overwhelming for the buyer/seller. Taking the extra time to explain as much as possible is helpful and gives that extra care that is needed.

Elaine - not only do we need to have an attitude that invites questions, but we actually need to ASK them if they have questions.  So many people are intimidated by the jargon and they are the ones who need the explanations the most.

Jason - I'm sure it's a little harder on the mortgage side to be able to explain a customer's options.  But it is so important that they understand them before they get to the closing table and feel the pressure to just sign and move in.

Sally - so true!  We have to be open to our clients and have a feel for the best way to explain something to them in THEIR language, not ours.

Carole - Thank you, my friend. 

Steve - It's hysterical now, but I didn't think it was very funny when she said it.  I have no idea where she got that smart mouth :)

Gregg - what makes you think there are more Spanish speakers here?  Louisiana has a proud French heritage and she decided to take French because her great grandmother was Cajun French and didn't teach the language to her children. She knew going in that it would be difficult and it was her choice to make.  She is the third of four kids...I'm getting the hang of what works for discipline and what doesn't and I don't think that punishing her will make her bilingual.

Lisa:  BRAVO!! Excellent way to open our eyes. We have to speak THEIR language...not expect them to understand ours.

Todd, we all need one now and again, don't we?

Rachel, you got it!  We are being compensated to represent our clients best interests and have a duty to do so even it means explaining something over and over again.

Debbie, there is no such thing as an over informed consumer.

Esko, I know that if I felt that someone was talking down to me, I'd move on.

Calvin, maybe the clients would care if we told them what all those letters mean to them!

John, you are so right.  If we are going to take the time to know what kind of house or mortgage they need, we need to take the time to get to know something about them.  That includes how to communicate most effectively with each one.

Mark, EXACTLY!  I don't know all of the mortgage alphabet - how could a consumer?

Andrew, now that is a compliment! Well...except for the poison oak part ;-p

Jen, I like that...stop speaking realtor.  Can I borrow that?

Elaine, my husband's grandmother was Cajun French as was her best friend.  It was a scream to watch them at social functions...sitting off to the side, checking everybody out, and NONE of us knew if they were talking smack or not!

Josette, I took Spanish...I think you were referencing the difficulty of the French language, but you could have been ordering pizza for all I know :)

Tracy, I think every industry has its own acronyms.  And that's great for a practitioner...not so good when the customer has no clue what we are talking about.

Sean, that's a good practice, putting yourself in their shoes.

Kelly, thank you!

Craig, I'm sure that may be the case for some.  I, for one, do not want to parrot what someone else has told me.  I want to understand it and be able to communicate it to my clients.

Meyer, otnay emay..ootay ardhay otay ypetay :)

Trevor, thanks for stopping in.  It's easy to get caught up, but it's a habit we need to break.

Katharine, LOL..stalker freak...only a teen would come up with that as a response to "How was school today, honey"

Elizabeth, sometimes in more ways than one, right?  You have 2 barriers to overcome with non English speaking clients - legalese is hard enough in your own language, but in another one?  YIKES!  I admire you so much for being able to help an underserved population.

There's a post I read recently here on AR where an agent is laughing at a customers use of the term "short sale"  and all the comments agreed about how dumb that person was.  It was clear that the customer knew exactly what a short sale is, she just hadn't mastered the lingo.  Jargon in any profession can used to enable the insiders to communicate in their own language  but as you point out,  if we hope to communicate with those outside the profession (customers) we have to remember to speak their language.

Thanks for the reminder

Lisa, okay I'm busted... it was sausage and pepperoni....

Lisa - I'm so excited because I could read Josette's post!  She is agreeing with me that French is very difficult to learn.  (either that or the goat is in the kitchen again)

My mother's family is French Canadian.  You know that we were one with the Cajuns at the time we got kicked out of France, oui? 

Lisa, exactly. Love your blog.

Ron, that's disappointing that a customer's lack of knowledge is considered comical.  If it were my client being made fun of, it means I didn't do a good enough job of educating them.

Josette, LMAO!

Elaine, I looked it up...it said the goat is in the kitchen eating a sausage and pepperoni pizza :)

Craig, thank you very much!

So true, that's why I disagree with most agent business cards "million dollar producer" and so on. These are misunderstood by consumers. We are here to navigate the transaction for them, they should be able to understand us.

Hi Lisa,

Thank you for the post. One good rule of thumb that works for me is I ask my clients, "Do you have any questions for me?" before I end each appointment.  I also remind them to ask me questions anytime.  You are right, we have to take the time to explain our jargon and educate our clients the process of buying and selling real estate.

Being bilingual in English and Tagalog, I find myself switching back and forth in English and Tagalog when explaining real estate transaction to my Filipino clients.  For example, in Philippines, there is no such thing as escrow.  So, I have to educate my Filipino clients of that concept.

Catherine

Lisa:

Great Post. I follow your advise always.

I not only explain, translate and over-explain. My daughter complaints that I'm boring and tells me !!Dad you explained that before, do not repeat yourself!!. Of course, my daughter is another generation. I like to know that my clients thoroughly understand the transaction.

Isaac Bensussen-www.besthomesinlajolla.com  

Christina, right!  if we can't communicate with our clients, how can we represent them?  We all need to be on the same page, speaking the same language.

Catherine, that's a perfect example!  You have to start at the ground floor with someone and lead them up the stairs.

Isaac, that's funny.  I bet your clients don't think you are boring when they understand all that you do for them.

I try to educate my clients all along the way. I give them articles I've written that help them with different steps of the process of the real estate transaction. I found in many cases that I took for granted that everyone knows about a certain aspect of real estate, only to find out otherwise. I now educate at the level of "I assume you know nothing, please don't be offended".

On point, Lisa.  It is a trap that is too easy to fall into.  With information so readily accessible anymore with all of the media coverage and internet resources, it is not surprising that we often expect our clients to be in lockstep with everything we are saying.  I find that most speak the Real Estate equivalent of Spanglish, where they have just enough knowledge to make an agent think that they understand all of the jargon and procedures associated with our industry.  I used to give my father a hard time for the lengthy presentations he would give (a son who would be impatient with a father?  No, you don't say!), but soon realized just how important it was to be clearly understood.  Take the time to make sure people understand now or you might very well have to take double the time to unravel the confusion later.  With ill will to boot.  Very well done on this post, Lisa.

Karl, what a good idea to give them something in writing to refer back to later...and I think you are starting at the level we all need to.  Let the customer be the guide if we are going too slow for them.

Paul, thank you so much for those kind words and for not speaking Spanglish or Pig Latin to me.

btw...still love your poetry post.  Well done back at ya :)

I speak English. And at offer time I go through every line of the contract to ensure my clients understand what they are about to sign. I have seen way too many simply say "sign here please". Great post! Currently my own 16-year-old daughter doesn't speak Chemistry!

Good post and so right. Buyers and sellers do not understand BINSR and SPDS and all the other strange abbreviations we use.

Lisa-You have a 16 year old ???  I know she is hating that online grade thing :)  Anyway, you are so right, and because my personality is so down to earth I talk to them in English....:)  Every now and then I slip and use an Industry Jargon, but mostly not :)  Great reminders, and so well written :)

I completely agree with you. We have to explain to our clients in their language, not ours.

Lisa:

This post was absolutely brilliant!  Now that is the way to bring it all together! 

P.S.  I like your daughter! "I don't speak French!"  HA! HA! Priceless. =]

Great reminder! I spend much time making sure my clients understand what is going on. They always appreciate that.

Lisa, Congratulations on your feature!!!  Very good post, I agree, I try not to use Real Estate language to my clients, but I do slip from time to time. 

As for French -- my parents never taught me French and I regret it to this day.  My maternal Grandmother only spoke French (Cajun) and I only spoke English -- somehow we managed to communicate -- she understood what I said and answered in French and I responded in English.  But if I had spoken French we would have been able to have wonderful conversations.  I loved it when we'd visit her -- she'd teach me a few words in French, but now I've forgotten it -- well, except a few words, that I didn't learn from her!

Congratulations. The real estate language is confusing.  It has taken me  a year to learn it and I can't assume that the average buyer/seller will walk-in knowing it!  Great post.

Excellent post. So often we forget that our customers do not in fact speak, Real Estate. In many instances, I have those who say & probably feel like they are real estate experts but once we begin speaking to one another I can clearly tell that they are not. Kind of like if your daughter was not doing so well but didn't lead on because perhaps you wouldn't know until the report card came out. It is our job to listen & advise where needed. I had a customer a couple of weeks ago that actually asked me to "speak to her like a kindergartner". It was cute & funny but she was serious - she wanted to make sure she understood everything clearly.

Simon, I feel your pain :)  I don't think that French is the only language mine doesn't speak..

Bob & Carolin, I don't know what those mean, either?  Share??

Kathy, I have a 16 year old this week...who knows what I'll have if she keeps up with that smart mouth :)  teehee - JK!

Mohamed, thanks for reading and commenting.

Jessica, I kinda like her too!  Still trying to figure out where that smart mouth came from...must be her daddy's side of the family :)

Wayne, we all need to do that.  It's our JOB, after all.

 

I;m learning Real Estate as a 2nd language.  They are just as many acronyms here as in the Army.  I didn't know I would have to add so much more to my vocab and memory banks.

Lisa, A wonderful analogy and great reminder. The botom line is : How we communicate makes all the difference with our clients and we need to communicate at THEIR level! Well deserving of a feature post!!!

Lisa, I can really relate we have to try harder to help our clients understand and ask questions if they aren't sure.  I am going through the same thing with my teenager but the language is Spanish. Whew!

Judi, it's sad, but Cajun French is a dying language.  I truly wish my husband's grandmother had taught it to her children and continued to pass it on to each new generation.

Kim, thank you.  We should never assume that our clients know ANYTHING!

Susan, your client is very smart!

Latonia, RE is a second language.  We may become fluent in it, but we can't assume our clients do.  Keep learning...it keeps you young.

Joeann, thank you so much!

Sharon, tell your teen good luck with Spanish.  I hope he/she gets a great grade!

Speckan' de Deutche?   (that is probably totally misspelled:)  This is an excellent point, Lisa. I also need to remind myself that although my head if full of Real Estate, the people I meet are on totally different wave lengths. Came by to wish you a Happy Holiday and see you have a feature! Congrats.

Your post makes a very valid statement. Studies show those that speak a foreign language usually have a higher IQ, are more marketable, and learn more easily.  So putting this all together, and understanding that we must also be able to explain our lingo to the consumer makes our profession very necessary.  If anyone doubted that before, they should no more!

Hi, Lisa! What a great post - it's definitely food for thought. The terminology we throw around all day long when talking to colleagues can be totally baffling to our clients. I work with a lot of first-time homebuyers and usually tell them, right up front, that they should always stop me and ask for clarification if there is something they don't understand. I think that, for the most part, this puts them at ease and makes them feel that they can ask me anything, even questions that might make them sound or feel "dumb," when really, they just don't speak the language!

Thanks for posting - I really enjoyed it!

~Maura Gebhardt

VERY good post!  And what I have noticed is that when things go wrong during the process of closing on a house, a large part of the reluctance on the side of the seller or buyer is simply because they start to feel fear and don't understand exactly what is going on. 

Maybe we should all have degrees in psychology and education as well???!!!

Karen, nicht spreche ich Deutsch nicht (my husband told how to say that)...I'm lucky to be able to find the right words to use in English, much less a foreign language :)

Mark, thank you!

Maura, there are no dumb questions...especially when they come from our clients.

Emily, you are so right ~ when buyers or sellers feel intimidated, they usually just disconnect from the entire transaction. There are definitely days when I feel like a therapist!

Lisa, this is a very insightful, well-written post. Thank you for reminding us that clients don't come pre-loaded with a real estate dictionary.

Brian Wilson, Zolve.com 

Brian, what a perfect way to describe it!  Thanks for sharing that with me.

Lisa - I remember that you wrote this story about your daughter in a comment on one of my posts awhile back.  Kudos to you for making it into a terrific post of your own!  Congratulations on getting featured, too!  I meant to read this one the other day, then I got sidetracked by something.  I hope you are having a great week!

I've been in the business for over 20 years and sometimes I don't even understand what some folks in our business are saying!

Great reminder to us all.

I guess the best ones to not speak our language are the government officials that have still not been able to deliver on the words they spoke about helping New Orleans get back on it's feet.

Jason, I knew there was a post in it somewhere...I just had to wait for it to come to me.  No sense in rushing these things :)

Don, we have learned a whole new alphabet down here.  Did you know that FEMA is a 4 letter word?

Thank you for wonderful reminder! I think that I was fortunate to take my pre-licensed classes eight years ago exactly 9 months after my family immigrated to America. English was obviously not my first language, nor it was perfect as well. Maybe because I was a total stranger to American Real Estate terminology, I learned it carefully and started my career with dedication to explain as plainly and clearly as possible any real estate or financial term to my clients who always seem to be confused with our jargon. As many of my clients speak Russian, I try to explain real estate terminology in both Russian and English. Good for us that we sometimes simply do not have adequate words in Russian, so I need to explain the meaning instead of simply "translating" into Russian another jargon word, meaningless for normal people no matter what language they speak.

I was thinking first that only people speaking English as second language needed all these explanations... How wrong I was!

Svetlana Stolyarova, Local-n-Global Realty, Broker

  

It is so easy to get out of touch with what it is like to be a buyer brand new to all the jargon. Good post!

Svetlana, your ability to be able to explain the meaning rather than just translating the words is exactly what I'm talking about.  That is providing true service to your clients.

Andrew, it is, isn't it?  Sometimes we just need to remind each other ;)

Lisa,  I try to speak to people in plain ordinary terms or at least explain things if this can't be done.  Yet, I won't deny that I've caught myself in so-called realtor speak.  Now, the other side of the coin is that you will find some people doing this because they need to feel important and possibly in control, but then it's obviously just being insecure on their part. 

I think this is a great post. Most of us who are so engrossed in the industry we don't realize that our jargons can be difficult to understand, and sometimes come across as arrogant. Often, direct and simple communications work best ;)

Cheers,

Cindy 

Marc, LOL...pretentious doesn't look good on you :)

Cindy, I bet there are a lot of staging terms that could confuse clients as well. 

Excellent!  We do sometimes take for granted the terminology we use, and we can sometimes inadvertently make them feel stupid - we have to be careful not to do that.

Margaret, thank you!  Just a hunch, but I don't think that making a client feel stupid is going to keep them around very long.

Lisa, every industry steps into the same pitfalls...we hear the words so often, we assume everyone knows what we are talking about.

The greatest successes in listing properties that I have had can be attributed to educating the consumer to empowerment.  Everyone wants to be with the teacher.

Gail Gladstone, Long Island Realtor

Gail, too true.  It's amazing how much information consumers DON'T have (until they take the time to sit down with a professional, of course)

Great post, and very true. We do have to step back and and try to put ourselves in their shoes. Explaining things as though they are hearing it for the first time because they probably are...

Sally, thank you.  That's an interesting comment...even if they have bought and sold a home before, they may not have had an agent or lender that really explained the process.  Approach each client like a first time home buyer - I like that!

Lisa - I just wanted to let you know that I included this post in the weekly wrapup for Family Ties.  Thanks!

Jason, thank you!

Lisa-What a wonderful post! I choose to speak from the heart and that simply allows me to give my clients the information they need and want to know.  All those acronyms mean nothing to people who aren't living and breathing real estate everyday. 

Julie, thank you so much!  You are so right...we can have the entire alphabet after our names and throw out all of the acronyms we want.  It doesn't mean a thing to people outside of our industry, and we are doing our clients a disservice if we don't explain everything.

Excellent analogy....  loved it!  I had to laugh at the part about the lenders-  when one of them starts talking to me about too many technicalities, I can literally CHECK OUT.  

Sandi, me too!  That's why I was sure to include lenders...they start talking in their lingo and I'm lost half of the time.  What does the consumer think?

Lisa, What a great post. Sorry I missed it on the day it was featured. I hear you sister and I can tell you there are so many times clients tell me "oh, my previous agent didn't tell me that" and I think well maybe he/she did, but he/she just did not explain it in everyday language where non-realtors can understand. 

Mana, thanks!  I hear that all of the time too and I'm thinking the same thing you are.  There cannot be that many agents that don't explain things, but there might be that many that don't explain things WELL.

Lisa, you are right on the mark!  Well deserved gold star!

David, thank you!  I appreciate you stopping in to read.