You can either have your cake or you can eat it. You can't have it both ways. And that's why it's so hard to get listings these days.

Sellers want to take advantage of the tremendous growth in their home equity and buying power, but they won't put their house on the market until they are assured there will be something out there for them to buy.

They want to move, but they are afraid to sell. Or they want to sell, but they are afraid to list. Or they want to list, but only if they can find one first. They have been warned that listing inventory is at an all-time low, and that Buyers are having to pay extravagant amounts over asking price to be competitive.

Every time the consumer hears an agent say there's nothing on the market, it fuels mass procrastination. The real estate industry seems to be putting itself out of business with this self-fulfilling prophecy.

Some of our well-trained, productive agents have discovered new ways to handle these fears with creative work-arounds, including: extended possession time after closing; bridge loans; short-term rentals; specific Buyer prospecting; guaranteed offers, and curb offers made from knocking on doors.

Yes, this is a historically extreme market, but If history repeats itself, and it usually does, there's a lesson in the cake and eat it cliche. Taking the step (of listing) generates the house to buy. In fact, until Sellers take that step, they are sending The Universe (and the market) a mixed message. Taking the step changes the Sellers mind-set and will attract what they want. Sending mixed messages to the market leaves no room for what they want to appear.

The Law of Attraction operates in the real estate market, and is a law as scientifically provable as gravity, or supply and demand.

William James, the father of modern psychology, wrote, "If you will only care enough for a result, you will almost certainly attain it. If you wish to be rich then you will be rich. If you wish to be good, then you will be good. Only you must then really wish these things, and wish them exclusively, and not wish at the same time a hundred other incompatible things just as strongly."

As Floyd put it, "When you're up on the fence, nothing happens." Mixed messages create confusion and contradiction. Convincing Sellers to come down off the fence and make a commitment is the key to changing their fear into forward thinking.

Commitment is the key to attracting the conditions and the energy that provides exactly what they want. And commitment is the key to you enjoying the icing on the cake.

The Floyd Wickman Team blog by Mike Pallin