The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good - Was Voltaire a Realtor?

The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good - Was Voltaire a Realtor?

Maybe the history books got it all wrong, and Voltaire was NOT a French writer or philosopher, but.....a REALTOR!! How else could he have come up with such a perfect quote as "The perfect is the enemy of the good."

I started thinking about ole' Voltaire when my husband constantly added his two cents' worth every time I headed out for yet more showings for clients who never seemed to find "the house." He'd say, "Just tell them that the perfect is the enemy of the good." Huh?

At first, I thought he was just being annoying, but after he said it about 3 or 4 times, I got to thinking...maybe he's got something here. I didn't know this was one of Voltaire's famous quotes. But when you stop to think about it, Voltaire had something going here!

This all begs the question....Is there a perfect house? Well, no, in my opinion! Buyers are always in search of "THE ONE," but usually something falls short...the lot, the floorplan, the decor, the location, the schools, the price, yada yada yada. But buyers still want to FIND that perfect house! So what should we Realtors do?

Remind our buyers of Voltaire's maxim, "The perfect is the enemy of the good." Have an engaging conversation with them about what they are finding in the 25 homes we just showed them. Many will say "I wish I could move house X to lot Y! I wish house Z was in X school district. I wish house A didn't have a chartreuse bedroom! I wish house B had an updated kitchen.

My dialogue then goes something like this..."Let's focus on things that we can change and things we can't change. We can't change the location of a home or it's school zone or it's topography. But we can (within reason, and at a cost) change the floorplan, add square footage, add a bathroom, update a kitchen, finish a basement, paint a room, plant trees, shrubs and flowers, buy new carpet, etc. Finding the perfect house is very, very rare. If you are happy with the things you can't change (neighborhood, location, etc.), then let's look at what you would have to do/spend to make this home your dream home.

Sometimes breaking down a decision in this manner makes the decision manageable for a buyer. "Well yes, I can paint a room or two! I could probably get granite counters for $3,000 or $4,000. I could even add a screened porch if I wanted to!" Once buyers start thinking about what they CAN do to make a house perfect, they start doing the happy dance, and that's a wonderful thing!

So don't let your buyers get all bogged down in the negatives of homes. If they are 85% happy with a house, then that's really awesome. Remind them that "The perfect is the enemy of the good!"

To start your search for Charlotte homes for sale, click here. I would be happy to guide you in your pursuit of the most perfect house attainable!