This is another favorite from my Arizona Republic column:
“My goodness! This house is gorgeous. I don’t know how you can bear to leave it.”
That’s me talking to a seller – while I’m in the home representing buyers.
It sounds like an innocuous remark, effusive small-talk, but what I’m doing is probing for motivation.
The most important fact is this: The seller should not be in the house while I’m there. It’s a kindness to the buyers to get out of their way so they can confer in comfort. But if you hang around the house, I’m going to talk to you and I’m going to extract every bit of information I can from you.
So the seller says, “Yes, we love it, but the payments are killing us.”
Excellent! We have financial pressure, leverage for my buyers in negotiation.
Or the seller says, “We’d love to stay, but my company’s transferring me.”
Almost as good: time pressure.
Or the seller says, “We’re building a home we love even more in Surprise.”
Financial pressure and time pressure. I’ll follow up to find out the deadline. If it’s relatively soon, we’re in the catbird seat.
This all seems so obvious to me. You should not be in the house at all. The fact is, I can read the house to get a fairly clear idea of your motivation, but why give me a chance to confirm my suspicions.
But suppose you just can’t get away. How should you answer my questions?
The best answer would be something like this: “It’s just time to move on.”
No emphasis, maybe even a hint of indifference in your voice. If you are truly in a hurry, if you’re under the gun from financial pressure or time pressure, it should say so in the listing.
But if you have the time to wait to get the best possible price for your home, don’t tell a buyer’s agent why you’re moving.
Technorati Tags: arizona, arizona real estate, phoenix, phoenix real estate, sellsius 101, real estate, real estate marketing
Art says:
Good points, I do the same thing. Pissy listing agents have called me to tell me not to talk to their clients. If the LA doesn’t tell his sellers to run and hide when my buyer and I come by, it’s fair game to me.
I was at a pre-foreclosure listing once (that wasn’t marketed as such) and got to talking with the owner. She told me and my buyers her life’s story and said that was so deep in debt that she would even sell the house to us for $10,000 less. So that’s what we got the house for. I wrote a nice little cover letter to the listing agent thanking his seller for being so nice as to offer us this special discount!
September 26, 2006 — 11:45 am
jf.sellsius says:
Lawyers do the same thing when trying to negotiate a settlement.
September 26, 2006 — 5:36 pm