What is the largest number of homes you have ever shown to one potential buyer? Did the buyer end up purchasing with you?

Do you have a limit to the number of homes you are willing to show a client? It seems to me that if you have an exclusive buyer's agreement you must either agree to terminate the contract or show them as many homes as they want/need to see.

I am amazed that many realtors do not want to show buyers more than 3-10 homes, when the purchase is usually going to gain them at least a minimum of a couple thousand dollars. Besides, I would think that most buyers find a neighborhood and usually stick to exploring there, so driving around a 1-3 mile radius for a couple of hours is not exactly extreme hardship towards actually earning a commission. However, in larger areas, driving to this neighboring small town or back & forth across the city with someone who hasn't even narrowed it to a part of town, would easily become tiresome to say the least.

Driving around the same neighborhood showing buyers 3-10 homes is not usually what those Realtors(R) are having a problem with, and refusing to do. My firt buyers wanted to buy a cheap house (foreclosure) in an area where bottom dollar houses were 100K plus. I showed them some in the 60K range and they were not impressed (neither was I), some people when their house goes into foreclosure don't bother to keep up the upkeep. So after trying to convince them they needed to look somewhere they could afford (a neighboring city) they agreed. I drove almost an hour each way several Sundays in a row to show them houses, wouldn't go on weekdays. Altogether I showed them 20+ houses, and they finally setteled on, I kid you not, a 45K home. Then they decided they didn't have the money to pay for the appraisial, or to buy a fridge (this house was excellent I would have lived in it if it were closer to my husband's work, it was a house that was inherited and the kids just wanted it gone, so they underpriced it by 30K), so anyway the deal didn't go through because they didn't want to buy the appraisal or the fridge. If this would have gone through, I would have only made roughly 800, was it worth it to me....no. But, it was my first time, and I was learning. I learned several things from this. 1. Get them preapproved before showing houses, 2. If they want a cheap house in a town that is too expensive for them, it is a sign 3 Always do a buyer interview to see exactly what they want and have them commit to a certain area, town, or price range.

Good post cgordon. I can't help but wonder whether or not the couple gave you positive referrals---but then would you want friends and family clients from those particular buyers.

I kid you not, I showed this young girl 10 to 15 homes every sunday in a particular neighborhood for two months straight. This area had a lot of rehabbed homes and there were probably 5 homes for sale on almost every block. She decided to put an offer on one house, but wanted to sleep on it first. In the morning she informed me that she decided to rent instead and that she'll contact me again in a year

Now I think that maybe I was showing her too many homes, in fact so many that she couldn't make a decision.

I sincerely hopes she comes back and seals the deal.

From reading the answers, obviously, all areas are different. where I am there are tons of second home buyers, so there is no urgency.

I've never set a limit to the number of homes, but I've never shown more than 15 to a client that actually closed. When I first started, I had similar stories of clients who saw 30-40 homes, then changed their minds about buying all of a sudden. Once I learned how to properly screen/qualify buyers, I've been good at only selecting serious buyers who pick a home and close. I even did an experiment once, where I didn't have the buyer commit to an area, and she wanted to look at almost 20 different houses EVERY DAY. Needless to say, she didn't close. So I don't thnk you should put limits, but if you have serious, qualified buyers, you won't have to because they'll usually pick a home soon enough.

The most I've shown to one buyer is 9, in one day. We basically traveled to 3 different towns to show the houses. By the end of the day, we submitted an offer on the first home we saw. Boy, was I tired.

Everyone says to work with investors and that you can get MULTIPLE deals off of one person.For th emost part here is the truth.

There are a handfull of serious investors in the market.The rest read a book,have unrealistic expectations on price,or are gunshy and even if you find them a deal can't pull the trigger because of fear.Most serious investors run there own ships and only want to contact you when you have a deal for them.This is why I only focus on listings if the deal is good I will draw the serious investors out and I will buy the really good deals myself.

Think about this you can manage ten listings at once while buyer agents show them.Can you take all 10 buyers out at the same time?NO,not unless you have rented a bus or have a buyers tour where they are all looking in the same price range.

As far as showing more than 10 properties,sure you can show 50 if you want to but the ones they liked earlier on will probably already be under contract or sold so it's a waste of time.

Thanks for sharing your truth in response to the OP.

From your post, I sleuth that your direct answers to my questions are zero, no, and yes---0.

So...how we convey to buyers that we have a showing limit?

I have a contract with a buyer and have shown them over 30 homes. I decided it was my fault they didn't buy because I must have been unable to "close" them. They went to my broker and made some netgative comments about me. My broker is now showing a couple to them and he has no problem with them. I was disturbed that someone would do that. They will never find another agent to do for them what I did. I was told by them that they wanted a house NOW, that their family was moving in with them until they found a place etc., etc. They sent me listings and I sent them listings so it was working well until "something" went wrong..Needless to say, I'm still upset about it. This was during the worst part of the winter too. By the way, they still haven't purchased anything.

Apparently, when they come to your office saying 'we want to buy a house, will you help us', you respond with I don't work with buyers but after you purchase your new home and decide to sell it at a later date come back to give me your hard earned money for my sellers-only time. Alternatively, you could tell them that you will only work with them if they have a confirmed loan, require you to show no houses, and can prove all of this by closing in 10 days. Either way, they will get the point and you will get the highest efficiency and the highest earnings for your time.

I hope it is obvious that I am just kidding. Your question is a good one and I would love to know the answer. I would think that limiting the buyers purchase options that way would limit the number of buyers willing to work with said agent. I wish someone who is actually successful with limiting showings and have buyers [fill in the blank] enough to go for it would share their script.

Sorry to hear that. Did they give you any indication at all? Did they ever mention to you something about the speed of a response or requesting more leads or anything that seemed somewhat benign at the time?

On the other hand, sometimes buyers have to find what is "perfect" for them and square footage or number of beds/baths is not the everything; sometimes, they know it is home when it feels like home and that is the nuance of the itfactor.

My responses were quick, I have saved the 173 emails that we sent each other just in case of Procuring cause on one that I showed them. They were pre-approved and I had the letter in my folder, and just in case I didn't mention it...there is a signed buyers' agreement but I guess it's moot now. Thanks