One rule of business I have learned, regardless of if you're in real estate or another industry, is to always be careful in business dealings. That may seem like common sense, but it's amazing how many people I've seen throw caution to the wind at times and suffer the consequences. Of course, risk taking is a big part of business success. People in the real estate industry takes risks all the time. People selling their property can take risks with how they advertise, real estate agents can take risks in starting their business or pitching for business, but there's still a way to be careful about it.
For starters, never assume anything. I know this is the world's oldest piece of advice...actually love thy neighbour could possibly win that title, but you get what I mean. When it comes to real estate and real estate transactions, assuming anything can be the death of your deal. It's human nature when you understand something implicitly to expect that the next person will also, just like when you type an email you know exactly what you mean, but the person at the other end can confuse your tone or meaning and all types of drama can ensue. Hence, never assume anything.
I heard a very funny tale not that long ago, granted it wasn't funny for the people involved, but as an innocent bystander I saw the humour in it, where assumptions resulted in a not particularly nice work scenario. Basically a new employee had started and turned out to be not the brightest of sparks. In the first week, the new employee left after another day of basically messing everything up, and the manager of this new person hit the direct dial on the work phone for the old colleague's mobile number, assuming none of the systems had changed to include the new person's number. After hearing a female voice pick up, the manager proceeded to rant about how stupid the replacement was until it became apparent she was actually talking to the new person. The receptionist was on the ball and had switched the contact details on the new employee's first day. Oh dear. Never assume anything.