This article is about real estate buyers and their agent's status. If your buyers aren't really telling you the truth about what type of home they want or can afford, it could be because they don't trust their agent with the knowledge. Unfortunately, it's true in many cases. If the buyers aren't convinced that you will work in their best interests with full knowledge of their situation, then they won't tell you everything, everything you need to know. Before any homes are shown, your goal should be to build a high level of trust with them that will allow them to be open and honest with you and give you all of the information you need to help them. This isn't always possible, as there are a lot of people out there who don't trust anybody. But, it's best for you and your buyers to get to the highest level of trust possible.
Here is an example from a agent selling
Collin County Homes who came into the market after being a tire kicker, subscriber and searcher on his website for years. At last, the timing seemed right, but the buyer was in the lowball offer mood, and there was a lot of difficulty in getting him to see the problem unrealistic offers present, even after two had already resulted in hard feelings and burned bridges with sellers. You would think that now this agents blog site was a good one, holding this buyer on his list for more than two years. This agent did a lot of market statistics and commentary that illustrated a great deal of market knowledge. So, what is the problem?
- It took several failed offers before the buyer finally decided that the time wasn't right to buy and he left.
- This buyer had previous poor experience with buyer's agents in other areas.
- He held a belief that all real estate buyers agents were after the commission first, and serving his needs second.
- The market was slow and the real estate buyer refused to believe that this area wasn't full of motivated sellers ready for any offer.
- The buyer's broker tried to gently lead the buyer to the knowledge that would help them to see their interests were at the top of this agent's list.
Was there no real desire for this buyer to buy because he was also interested in
Tarrant County homes and
Denton County homes as well? This wasn't the case, as it was a long drive to get to this area, and the buyers did some intensive online studying before making the trip out there. It was only because this buyer believed that the agent couldn't be trusted when he was telling them to raise their offers and posting higher earnest money deposits that they would need, and other facts about that specific market and homes that would help them to actually successfully make a purchase. Work on trust first, and you may find it a pleasure to work with buyers who respect your opinion and truly consider your advice. The clueless part isn't just as regards the first time home buyer. Many experienced buyers who have done multiple transactions in their lives will still not have market specific knowledge that can hurt them in their search for a home.
- Even specific knowledge of how certain listing brokers handle their negotiations on behalf of their sellers
- Local custom as to earnest money and offer presentation.
- Market conditions, absorption rates, and local market trends.
- Specific area knowledge that dictates very different home prices in areas not that far apart geographically.
- Quality information as related to specific builders or subdivisions.
