It’s Time to Get Your Kaizen On

The Japanese term, Kaizen holds a place in my life adjacent to curiosity.  Kaizen means “continuous, incremental improvement and challenging the status quo.” 

I didn’t know what Kaizen was when I started Homebuyer Associates, but I was interested in challenging the real estate status quo and finding a better approach to the home buying process.  That approach became Exclusive Buyer Agency and Homebuyer Associates.

The status quo in real estate is often (too often) defined by those who make the most noise or have the largest advertising budget.  Noise and marketing are not limited to real estate.  You often find them in the financial sector.

I find it interesting, curious actually, that the two areas in which your money is at risk – real estate and investing – are primarily served by processes that don’t represent you.  Noise and the ad budget rule the day.  (I guess that’s not unlike politics now that I’m writing.)

Your Kaizen – continuous and incremental improvement – can only be realized if you are open to learning and being curious and questioning the noise and marketing.  Why do I write this?

Recently a potential client decided not to use Homebuyer Associates because he could not find enough reviews about us on the Internet.  I wrote respectfully to the prospective client that his comment reminded me of the cartoon with a dog at a computer blogging financial advice.  The receiver of the information noting, “I read it on the Internet so it must be true.”

I read recently that among Millennials, 58% used a mobile website to search for a home.  For Gen X the figure is 53%.   Each percentage will grow.  (As an aside Homebuyer Associates is redesigning its newsletter and website acknowledging the majority of people initially read our newsletter on their smart phone.)

A survey conducted by the Inman real estate group found that Millennial’s were more likely to take actions online as a result of an Internet home search.  While the Internet is a valuable source of information, why choose/trust an agent found online with the largest investment of your life?

Does noise and advertising mean the agent has experience and will represent you or does it mean the agent has chosen to be part of the noise and Trulia and Zillow advertising model?

Buying a home is no longer a no brainer (if it ever was).  As Morris Davis, associate professor of real estate at the University of Wisconsin, notes, “You can’t buy now and expect a big gain.”  If you are not careful with your money – your home purchase and investments – you run the risk of having to work for a long, long time (see last month’s newsletter).

It’s time to get your personal Kaizen on.  Commit yourself to continuous, incremental improvement and challenging the status quo.   That requires a curiosity to investigate how to do things differently – asking questions and questioning answers.  Get your Kaizen on and you increase your chances to make a sound real estate purchase.  Don’t put your Kaizen on and you are at financial risk.

We welcome the Kaizen approach. Your Kaizen, curiosity and our conversation will help you make a sound real estate choice. As always, for us it begins with you, Seamus or me and a cup of coffee.