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Narratives can have an enormous impact on all things including sentiment and markets. Some narratives are fact and data based, but others are sweeping generalizations. Some involve human herd mentality: following the herd is usually comfortable. Some narratives are artificially fueled as they serve entities or individuals with agendas seeking power, control or fiscal rewards.
Right now we are witnessing all sorts of narratives about individuals, market conditions, those with political party affiliations, markets, pricing, inflation, races, religions, government policies, cultural moments, you name it! Most of these narratives are being driven by averages which are usually unreliable. Truthful hyperbole allows narratives to deliver a combination of hard facts/data mixed in with some borderline facts/data as well as some good old inaccuracies, many purposefully generated.
We as a society are too busy making a buck, taking care of families, glued to television or social media, getting our sleep, etc, to spend the time necessary to do our own research. Those in the media whose job it is to do this research on our behalf have been punished by a system that only seems to sustain and reward salacious headlines and divisive content that is quick and easy to digest. Others in the media are beholden to editors and ownership with specific agendas unrelated to reporting or truth-finding.
Right now the narrative being spewed about real estate agents in the US is easily discovered in the media, not just by the writers, but also in the comments section too. The narrative is that agents are mostly overpaid, under-worked, incompetent and dishonest. While some or all of that applies to some agents for sure (not unlike any other industry), it is mostly false.
I am encouraged by some glimmers of hope in our profession that has shifted gears from spewing narratives about that sale that happened in 24 hours to the stories about sales that took enormous effort, cost, time, skill and hand-holding and did not result in millions of commissions.
THANK YOU to those agents who are rising above their personal ego's instincts to see the bigger picture and counter the false narrative of the moment.
While still in its infancy, I'm very hopeful this movement towards a counter-narrative of our profession will result in a much more accurate perception of the real estate profession.
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Ken interprets market data, staying in constant communication and offering valuable insight that then translates into an informed decision.
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