by wes

Yesterday I finally got to wear my camel coat.

I bought it right at the end of winter last year after agonising over it for far too long. Do I need another coat? No. Is it practical? Debatable. Does it make me look like I have my life together? Possibly.

By the time I finally committed to buying it, winter was basically over. The coat never got worn. Not once. It spent the next eight months hanging in my cupboard looking expensive and full of unrealised potential.

Still, I knew it was there. Part of the arsenal. Waiting for its moment.

Yesterday, that moment arrived.

I put it on and felt fantastic.

The coat looked right. It felt right. It suited the weather. Everything worked exactly as intended.

Now imagine me wearing that same coat in the middle of January. Thirty-two degrees. Humidity thick enough to chew. Sweating through every layer while stubbornly insisting that this is my coat and I’m wearing it regardless.

That would be ridiculous.

Nobody does that because we understand seasons. We dress differently in winter than we do in summer. Not because one season is better than the other, but because the environment around us changes and we adapt.

A crisp winter morning has its appeal. So does a long hot summer day. In a few months I’ll be complaining about freezing temperatures and wishing for beach weather. That’s normal. It doesn’t mean winter is broken. It just means winter is winter.

The funny thing is people understand this perfectly everywhere except property.

When the market changes, many people keep trying to use the same approach they used six months ago. The same pricing strategy, the same expectations, the same conversations and the same advice.

But a softer market requires a different wardrobe.

You cannot approach buyers the same way you would in a booming market. Buyers have different concerns, different motivations and different fears. They need different information and different guidance. They need someone who understands where they are right now, not where the market was eighteen months ago.

The agents who struggle are often trying to force a summer wardrobe into winter. The agents who thrive understand that markets, like seasons, change. They adapt their approach, adjust their expectations and keep moving forward.

Winter eventually becomes spring. Spring becomes summer. The market shifts. It always does.

Until then, put on the right coat.