How Can a Tree Support Your Vision of Home Ownership?
It depends on the type of tree in question. In my case, I’m referring to a specific buying and selling process I developed over twenty years ago called the TREE: Total Real Estate Experience, and I’ve been using it ever since! I suppose it was no coincidence that my totem at that time was a tree, and it still is. Trees have so much wisdom: its roots ground us; its trunk steadies us in stormy times; its branches reach out in order to grow, and its blossoms signal the perfection of all the necessary elements aligning.
At the time this process revealed itself to me I was leaving a ten-year business partnership and branching out on my own.
My identity had been tied to my former partner, and I was looking for what it was that was unique or different about the way I worked. As I was walking along the beach reflecting on this, I said to myself, “Well, I strive to provide a comprehensive real estate experience….a total real estate experience.” And that’s when a little light bulb went off, and I reached down to write this in the sand and noticed that the first letter of each word spelled TREE! What was so remarkable about this was that a few months prior I was in New England for the Fall taking a photography workshop where all I did was photograph the most beautiful autumn trees I’d ever seen! It’s also quite synchronistic that I’m writing this in middle of Fall here in Santa Barbara!
Over the last six months I have written about each of the steps I take my clients through as we navigate the TREE process together. It’s interesting to note that even though the process ideally starts with visioning, it’s not mandatory that we start there.
Sometimes, what is at the forefront of a sellers thinking is better understanding what they can purchase for a certain amount either here or out of the area. In this case, they might start by looking at what’s for sale at this time. For another, it might be understanding what is needed to prepare a home for market so that they can properly budget both financial resources and time for this project instead of waiting to the last minute and racing under stress to get it done.
Either way, the elegance of this process is that it is flexible and based on recognizing what the clients’ wants and needs are at any given time without compromising the integrity of the process and forgoing any of the steps. While the order is flexible, the individual steps are necessary to accomplishing our clients’ vision and objectives. Over twenty years of working in this way, constantly refining the process, has proven itself to me time and time again. Needless to say, I am passionate about supporting clients in making their visions of homeownership a reality and love talking about it.
If you’re considering buying or selling either now or months or years from now, feel free to reach out to me at 805.689.1300 or [email protected]. I’m always happy to provide complimentary meetings to discuss this process and discover if we’re a good fit.