Heather Soldonia

By Heather Soldonia

It’s the secret that’s driving every client — social comparison.

The Social Comparison Theory explains how individuals evaluate their own opinions and desires by comparing themselves to others in either an upward or downward direction.

An upward comparison example: “Our friends, the Joneses, purchased a brand new 3,000-square-foot home. We don’t want to consider anything smaller than 3,000 square feet.”

A downward comparison example: “Our poor friends have beautiful homes, but can you believe their commute is over an hour?! We’ll be much better off finding something smaller, but closer to the Bay Area.”

We’ve all heard clients irrationally comparing themselves to the Joneses — ignoring ALL the other factors that play a role in determining what home would be best for them financially, geographically, etc.  It can be so frustrating!

But here’s the interesting part… We do it to as agents, too!

An upward comparison example: “Last week at the conference REALTOR(R) Jones was telling me that he closed 46 transactions this year… I’m as good as he is, so I better close at least that many this year!”

A downward comparison example: “Well, the newbie didn’t close a single transaction last year, so I could be doing much worse.”

Here is a reminder… Continue reading »