I have a buyer who wants a lot in a house but doesn't have the funding to afford that ideal house..... I've had the talk with her that she is not going to find what she want in her price range etc... I have managed to find her 2 homes that fit every requirement she had and she like them them both a lot even went back to both several times....


What's the average number of homes you show your buyers....Have you ever had to "let go" a buyer or refer them to another agent?

I once showed a lady 40+ homes in 4 different neighborhoods.
She was one of my first buyers, and I needed to learn the communities so I took her around and learned my way around at the same time.

I don't know that I would do that again...but maybe!

Depends on the buyer and why they are not making an offer. There is another buyer I took out oodles of times, every weekend and she found the perfect house...but she refused to make an offer. Then she was gone for six months. Then she was back. I took her out one more time, and again, she had the perfect house, but didn't make an offer. Said she didn't want to pay as much as the listing price.

I say, if you find them the perfect house, and they say it's the perfect house, and then refuse to make ANY kind of offer...they were just playing with you and wasted your time, gas, and wear and tear on your car.

Thanks...She is also one of my first buyers (have only been in the business about 4 months)

I would use it as good training for you. A year down the line, when you have more business, you can afford to be more picky about who takes up so much of your time.

My feeling is this - if they are honestly serious, and have good reasons for not picking this house or that house, I will continue on with them until we find The One. My buyer seriously wanted a house, but it had to be "just right." There were 4 distinctive HOA communities we looked at - each one was VERY different, and she wanted to see several houses in each one. This is a huge purchase, and I'm not going to force someone into making a decision just because I'm tired of running them around.

I always looked at it this way - what if after all my hard work, I tell this person to get lost, and the next week they go with another agent who finds "THE HOUSE" cause YOU showed them every other house in the area...lol. That would really BITE big time, wouldn't it?

Fortunately, I've only had a couple like this; one did buy something, one only used my gas and time. I'm not sure I would believe her if she calls me next summer....I found her SEVERAL houses in the neighborhood she wanted, in the price range she wanted, in the CONDITION she wanted...and then...bzzzt. Nothing.

Refusing to make an offer - that's what got my goat. Naturally you don't pay list price. Nobody does in a buyers market. You make an offer. And if the offer is accepted, hurray, if not, then what have you lost? Since she refused to proceed after saying "I love this house, it's perfect" I had to conclude she was NOT a serious buyer, just someone pretending she was going to buy. I paid babysitters to watch my kids so I could take this lady out. I spent lots of money on gas. For what?

THEN, on the flip side, I took another buyer out, and after seeing 4 houses, they made an offer, and it's closing later this month. LOL.

It's a learning experience when you first start working with buyers. However, you need to be aware of how much your time is worth. If you have discussed the buyer's needs and wants, and found homes that fit the criteria, but they still don't buy, then it's time to let them go. You're wasting valuable time on someone that isn't willing to buy a house right now. Remember that a buyer always has three qualities: Ready, Willing and Able. Your client doesn't sound like they're willing right now.

To answer your question: When I've had unrealistic buyers, I've fired them. Always done in a nice way of course. But I let them know that it seems that I can't help them at this time. When they're ready, they can always give me a call. I've only had to do that twice. And I've run into both clients years later, and they're still renting.

I have a Team behind me, so if I don't have time to deal with them myself I can refer them to another agent and say "they know your area of interest better than me" or something like that.

When you're new, the learning value is higher when looking at tons of houses, but after a while you don't need to see 30 houses per buyer. 10 or 20 will do.

My first year I ran my business like a fire station. When the alarm went off (my cell phone), I would dash out the door in under a minute.

Nowdays I encourage an in office meeting before touring homes. We meet and greet, get the loan stuff in order, and look at homes on the computer. This process takes all of 30 minutes.

You would be surprised at how little folks know about the home buying process. A little prep work in the begining saves major time and hassle down the road.

Careers1920,

if i remember correctly from one of your other posts, you stated that you have been in the business for abour 4 months.

remember, if you dont sell houses, you will not be in business. i say that out of love. if you are working with someone that wont close in a reasonable amount of time you are losing clients that will. focus on learning how to generate GOOD QUALITY LEADS. if you do that, you wont even think twice about working with someone who might or might not buy. think of all of the cost involved with showing homes in vehicle wear and tear and gas....and most important...your time! any JOB that you would work would pay you hourly. if you are working a buyer who wont close, your hourly is 0 and your expenses are HIGH.

learn the dirty word....prospecting (its not dirty to me)...that is where you make your highest dollar per hour figure in this business. in sales it's called rainmaking. you need to learn how to become a rainmaker!

While you are showing them, you should try to educate them on price. The idea of never paying full price doesn't make sense. Prices are all over the map, some are priced too high and some are priced so low that they are guaranteed to sell in a bidding war. The buyer's need to know that there is no "appraisal" done that sets the price, people price their houses on a whim. If a house is priced below what similar homes in the area have sold and closed for in the last six months, it may be okay to pay full price. It's about not being stuck on an idea that has you throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Careers, like yourself, I have only been in the business for a short time, and I have also had clients who were a bit indecisive about making the commitment. The way I see it, if they are not ready to buy just yet (or sell, in the case of a seller), I like to leave them with a good impression so that when they are ready (and eventually they will be) I would be the realtor they think of. On my first month, I had a buyer who seemed serious, had funds, had a definite timeline, but even though she loved a couple of properties and wanted to make offers, she just didnt seem too concerned about handling things in a timely manner. It turned out she was having some personal issues in her life which precluded her from focusing on deal (which is totally understandable and I'm sure happens to many people). But now, she came back with a bigger budget, made an offer (which was accepted), and we will be closing on it in 2 weeks (for a property close to $1M). My advice would be to remain patient, show that you are professional regardless of circumstances, and take it as an opportunity to learn the area better. Eventually, it will all pay off for you. I look forward to your continued input.

the person that you work with today that uses your time and does not buy could prevent you from finding the 2-3 people who will use you and buy a home.

what do you do if you get to many people who use your time and dont buy? <answer=out of business

Maui-love that real estate website name now you just need some serious work on the site. Good Start

TIP: If you are a new agent in this business prepare to learn this fact. There are a gazillion agents out there. Each time you get a lead most of the time that lead knows a broker/agent.

In the leads mind you have to CREATE and SHOW why you are different so that they see an urgency and value in doing business with you.

For instance commercial sellers come to me because I am a specialist. When I say 10 percent they say we were prepared to pay you more. They see the value in my experience to be able to do what other have been unable to do because they do not have the network and resources I have to move the property.


So what do you have to offer as a new agent? TIME

Sadly in most cases a few high maintenance buyers and sellers is what newbies pick up. People in the game for awhile know to take the very best leads and refer off the high maintenance,low margin buyers and sellers to other agents. In other words we don't want 1 client sucking away all of our time and dropping (return on investment). Now as a new agent you will go to the ends of the earth to close this hard deal as it's all you got. if you close it then I made some coin but if not my time is reserved for more serious clients.

I am just giving it to you like it is. Is this game harsh? YES

Since you are in Georgia I will give you this strategy which will only work well if you are at a 100 percent company.

A particular company uses this strategy here and closes over 1,000 deals a year with just a few agents.

In GA you can use a homebuyer rebate. Here is how to set it up.

You will REBATE 50 percent of your commission if the buyer views 1-3 properties and buys and closes,33 percent for 4-6 houses,25 percent for 7 to 10 houses,over ten 199.00.

This program does not include properties under 100k or where the buyer co-op is under 3 percent or a FSBO.

Now what you do is have buyers drive around and look at properties from the outside. Many times a list of 10 properties will go down to only 4 they want to see the inside of because when they get their they do not like the area,property has power lines,level driveway is found to be on a hill,old picture was taken and property is run down from the outside now etc.,etc.

Now that the buyers get to a list they want to see the inside of those will count against the property totals for the rebate.

Now this will make your buyer pipeline fill up like crazy. Now you sift and sort the strongest and most motivated buyers with no contingencies and then farm out the rest and take a small referral.


Time is money in this business. If I have a buyer do most of the legwork and the they want to purchase a 300k house at say 9k to me the broker then for that small amount of time I make 4,500 and rebate the rest. This is much better than dealing with a marginal buyer credit wise that wants the moon and you spend 4 to 6 months of hell to make a 5k commission.

If you want consistent results and to not GET LUCKY with one buyer and then have another buyer show 50 homes to and NOT PURCHASE then you have to have a system in place for long term success and to increase your earnings per hour.

Just my opinion. Now if you have a huge split with your broker then this strategy may not work well for you but I would say switching to a 100 percent company would be better anyways.
Over the years I have never seen brokers hand you awesome leads on a silver platter for nothing. So if you aren't getting that why are you giving so much away??

I am not talking about vacation markets,etc. I am talking plain old vanilla real estate.

The important thing you have to realize with difficult clients is that your time is money. If you feel that dealing with this women will eventually lead to a sale and isn't taking to much of your time from other important matters. One of the hard things as a Realtor is using your discretion to choose which clients will deserve specific amounts of your time. If the situation seems to be a loss and the client is extremely hard to please you might just be wasting your time.

Myles Weisman


www.homesforsaleinsandiego.com

Super, thanks for the comment. My site should be up and running in a week or so (being designed by AgentImage). My blog is also being designed by them, so I should have something up shortly. Sorry for deviating from the topic. Nonetheless, great advice from the experts to the OP.

Thanks for all the comments... We recently expanded our search to nearby cities. And I have now shown her about 7 properties that fit all of her requirements as well as being well within her price range....
We found out one property she really like is going up for auction next month..Now she like well I wont make an offer on that home lets look at more and hopefully its still available next month for auction....

Tomorrow I am planning to show her a couple more...I am thinking about asking her after I show her the properties ... out of all the ones you have seen which one can you see yourself living in and being happy in (if she says one I am going to ask her what she wants to pay for the home) and once she gives a price say let's write an offer for that amount (just to get the process started - of course if it's a low ball offer I will call the LA to make sure they aren't completely offended)

estatereal - you are correct I have been in business for about 4 months... I currently have 3 closing schedule (wrote another offer today) and received a couple offers on my listing today....

If it's a lowball just present it. What difference does it make if the listing agent is completely offended? It is our obligation to present any offer our clients want to make. If they are offended, they'll get over it.

I say that because I know with some lowball offers they are automatically rejected and no counter offer is given....At least that way I can express we are serious and how about starting negotiations from that number and hopefully we can come to an agreement...
But mainly because most agents in my area are not pleasant people to deal with

Lower offers will be taken more seriously if your buyer has cash and proof of funds. If your buyer is like all other buyers with marginal credit,low down payment, and is going FHA good luck with the low balling.

I deal with the same stuff in commercial from buyers. Is this a down market ? YES! Is it a crazy market ? NO!

Both buyers and sellers have to lower expectations. This is why many deals are not happening. Sellers realize it is a down market but do not want to "give it away" while buyers realize it is a down market but "want to steal it"

This is what we refer to as the "bid-ask price gap". Until that number lessens to a point where the seller and the buyer say OK let's do a deal then nothing will happen.

In commercial we have LOI's or "letter of intent" which does save time in my opinion. The other day I had a guy offer verbal 500k cash for a listing at 739k which we turned down as we already turned down a 550k cash offer for the building.

So it comes back to the bid-ask gap. Seller is willing to sell in the 600's but not the 500's. I have to find the buyer willing to go into the 600's and it is a smoking commercial deal. I am looking forward to the market finally moving and buyers and sellers meeting in the middle more.

Since so many new buyers seem to think they can "steal" a property, and at least locally, they can NOT. I simply ask them this question, "Since this seems to be the best home for you that we have found, and it is in your price range, is it going to bother you if you lose this property to someone else that may be making a more reasonable offer, based on current market values?" Mr. buyer, I have had several buyers lose a couple of properties by lowballing their offers before they finally realized that I am telling them the truth... that scenario really happens regularly.

They still get to make the decision, but it's your job to tell them the possible consequences of irrational decisions. One recent educated buyer asked me why shouldn't he offer 10k less than asking price and see what happens. This was a VERY popular neighborhood, and all nice homes priced well sell quickly. I simply asked him that if he were the seller, and his neighbors all around had been selling for 200k, would you settle for 190k if you had the data to prove you are very likely to get 200k? His response was that the logic does make sense, and not willing to risk losing the home he really wanted for a "crap shoot".

Super that's great to hear.....My buyer does have proof of funds....she plans on putting down 100k and financing the rest

By the way your previous response provided some great tips

You have to define what their expecations are from the start and then educate them about the realistic opportunities in their market. Remember...you are the real estate expert...not them. This is a helpful powerpoint and customizable home buyer presentation if you are working with first time home buyers:

First-Time Home Buyer Survey Results For Agents and Consumers

Gary Keller’s ‘Your First Home’ Book – Free Download of Customizable First-Time Buyer Presentation