Mistakes in Real Estate: What You Can Learn from Steve Harvey

Written by Posted On Monday, 21 December 2015 07:37

By now, even if you aren't a pageant watcher, you've heard about Steve Harvey's gaffe during last night's pagent. He did the worst possible thing: He announced the wrong winner, allowing Miss Colombia to make the walk as a newly crowned pageant queen. Until he realized his mistake, and Miss Philippines was crowned instead.

It was more cringeworthy than any episode of Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm. (Though in fact, it would have made excellent fodder for that show, and it's too bad they'll never have a chance to do that "ripped from the headlines" episode.) Have you not seen or heard about the mistake? Take a minute and watch the video, especially if you'd like to spend the rest of your morning wincing, with your shoulders hunched up to your ears.

But what if you make a mistake in real estate? Let's say you tell one person their bid is accepted, only to realize you contacted the wrong person. Or you tell your neighbor that you're sure your other friend will want to buy their house, then you learn it's out of their price range. Or you're an agent, and you tell your buyer you have a great bid on their home, but it turns out the bid was for a different home. Dumb mistakes? Sure. But people make mistakes, because we're human. Here's what Steve Harvey did right, what he did wrong, and how you can move past a mistake.

Do: Apologize and accept responsibility immediately. Harvey corrected his mistake onstage and, though it was wildly awkward, the real  winner was crowned. In real estate, the sooner you correct a mistake, the better. Because every day counts when someone's trying to buy or sell a house.

Don't: Correct your mistake publicy, if you can avoid it. Harvey probably had to just go for it, but wouldn't it have been nice if they could have gone to commercial break, explained what happened privately to the two winners, preferably backstage, and let Miss Philippines make her grand walk after the break? Also, Miss Colombia would have had a moment to compose herself, though she handled it beautifully even without that chance. Your correction and apology should be designed to minimize embarrassment. 

Get all the dos and don'ts at mortgages.com. 

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