We lost an hour Sunday! I’m sure like most folks I’m not a big fan of losing sleep. I’m not alone in my dislike for time change. There is evidence that changing the clocks causes a spike in car accidents, strokes, and heart attacks. In general folks seem a bit “pissed off” with the time change. What does this mean for real estate? Why should you not buy or sell real estate today?
“Even mild changes to sleep patterns can affect human capital in significant ways,” two Cornell University researchers, Lawrence Jin and Nicolas Ziebarth , wrote (PDF) last year. It seems judges are following the time change.
The impacts of losing an hour of sleep are wide ranging with a disruption to most people’s circadian clocks. As a result of the disruption, the vast majority of people are a bit “off” while they adjust to the new time change.
How does this impact real estate? Real estate transactions are highly emotional whether one is selling a house or an apartment building. It is rarely regarded just as a “business transaction”. With the emotions involved in a real estate transaction and the general “off” feeling people have after the time change emotions are heightened.
Negotiating is not productive typically when emotions are high on either side of the transaction. High emotions overtake logic and reason which are the cornerstones of an effective negotiation. With daylight savings time increasing emotions in general, today is definitely not the best time to kick off the negotiations on a real estate transaction.
What should you do? Wait a few days or a week for the time change to settle in. Obviously not every negotiation can be delayed, so if you need to negotiate a transaction remain cognizant about the heightened emotional state of the participants and adapt your negotiating style to accommodate.
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Written by Glen Weinberg, COO/ VP Fairview Commercial Lending. Glen has been published as an expert in hard money lending, real estate valuation, financing, and various other real estate topics in the Colorado Real Estate Journal, the CO Biz Magazine, The Denver Post, The Scotsman mortgage broker guide, Mortgage Professional America and various other national publications.
Fairview is a hard money lender specializing in private money loans / non-bank real estate loans in Georgia, Colorado, Illinois, and Florida. They are recognized in the industry as the leader in hard money lending with no upfront fees or any other games. Learn more about Hard Money Lending through our free Hard Money Guide. To get started on a loan all they need is their simple one page application (no upfront fees or other games).