Everyone seems to think that selling Real Estate is easy work. Just show the property to a few people, write a contract, and show up at closing to collect a check. Perhaps a few agents are that lucky, but I know that most of us work hard and long getting deals closed. The heavy lifting is getting from the time we write a contract to the time everyone collects their money and the Deed transfers to the new owner.

The Real Estate Agents primary responsibility is guiding their client along this path successfully while preserving the clients interests.

With experience an agent learns what the path looks like, where the problems will be and can adequately prepare their client for what to expect and how to prepare.

Back when I was heavily involved in Manufacturing, Design, and Project Management, I got the chance to take the series of Six-Sigma classes and lifted from this a useful model for describing the path from contract to close. My intent in this segment is to describe this path to you in a useful manner.




Top Graph
Along the horizontal axis we have Time. Along the vertical axis we have Stress (as in, "I am so stressed out!"). The line in the graph represents the change in stress level as time marches on and you will notice the Crisis Point circled at the peak of the Stress Level.

In reality, many stressful things happen as we work to get a contract closed. The financing has problems, there are liens on the property, the roof needs to be replaced, the insurance company doesn't like the ocean being nearby, the city won't give the needed permits and the list goes on and on. Many of these stressful items are inter-dependent among the parties to the transaction (i.e. the insurance company won't accept the roof, so the bank won't write the loan, so you can't close) and one can not be solved without solving the others.

This particular Map to the Closing says that this stress is a good thing, and that without the stress levels becoming somewhat elevated, the many inter-dependent decisions that must be made will not be . The combination of stress and deadlines creates the unique environment that allows (an sometimes forces) all of this to be sorted out.

Then many decisions get made over a very short period of time (The Crisis Point) and all of a sudden the worst is behind us and all the stress levels drop.

In my experience, the Crisis Point is easily identified in hindsight, but is not always accurately identified as you approach it. Sometimes there are a few bumps and mini-crisis along the way as you work up to the crisis point.

Regardless, knowing what the roadmap looks like allows me and my client to operate in a more calm and thoughtful manner and use the others parties stress to  our advantage.


Bottom Graph
Here we have the same configuration, but the stress level  never gets too high, and sort of just peters out.
This represents that realty where the parties to the contract suffer from acute lack of excitement and the process suffers a slow and ungraceful death. This is not how we want things to go.


The Path Description
So I work through this graph with my clients at the start so they understand what to expect. Then later when everyone is stressed out, I revisit the chart and remind them how this stress is a good thing - it furthers our cause and enhances the chance of success.

As I mentioned above, this truly helps keep an objective outlook on the situations when everyone around you seems to be losing their heads and understanding the path contributes greatly to achieving the goal.