That title is probably going to rub a few people wrong. “Why shouldn’t we help the client get to the right decision?” And as with anything in life, there’s some nuance to the issue.
Let’s start at the top though, our job is to help a client make the right real estate decisions. Hard stop. Doesn’t that go against my thesis? Absolutely not. Our job is to give them all the information they need, package it in an understandable way, and give the client a framework for making their decision. But at the end of the day we cannot actually make the final decision for them.
Yet too often we try to make the decision for our client. We push a decision that we think it best and fight anything different. We push a decision because we think things are delaying too long. We push a recommendation that is “right” but doesn’t match the client’s culture and business.
Ultimately all decisions involving the client’s money is theirs to make. If we take that decision away from them we are putting them in a position of greater risk to themselves and their business. We need to ensure that the client moves in a timely fashion and we must look out for their best interests. But ultimately we are there to support them.
If we become over-involved in the actual decision then we put them and ourselves in an awkward position. As advisers we must effectively advise. Less than that and we are not giving the client the information they need for a good decision. More than that and we put them in a position of accepting a decision they don’t really support or can be successful with.