New Real Estate Agent? How to Handle Buyers and Their Home Search

If you are a new (or even a seasoned) residential real estate agent and work with buyers searching for homes, it can be time-consuming, wasteful and sometimes frustrating. But working with buyers, especially first-time buyers, is also rewarding and should be embraced.

Working with buyers can be more time-consuming than having listings, but not always. Here are some tips that I've embraced over the years to help you stay focused and profitable:

Make sure your buyers are pre-approved: Driving around with buyers for weekends, weeks or months with no prospect of concluding business is time that you're not out getting other clients. Buyers often have no idea what their credit score is (who does? It changes near-daily), what their debt-to-asset ratio is, or anything else that a lender would measure to gauge their credit-worthiness. It's a disaster when buyers start finding properties they 'know' they can afford and then find out...they can't. It's hard to recalibrate your sights downward.

Have your in-town buyers do drive-buy's of every home...first. Without you: There is no reason that you need to drive, with your buyers to every listing they want to see. At least half of the homes that look good online will NOT be desirable because of location...something will not be quite right. The street, the neighborhood, the neighbors, whatever. The buyers will pull up to the actual house, and say to themselves, 'no way.' There is no reason for you to waste time setting up these showings. If your buyers are in-town, be sure they do this with every listing first.

Talk About Every Listing: During each showing, as you're walking around, ask them what they like and don't like. You'll have to coax it out of some buyers; others will be chatty and more than happy to share with you their thoughts. But get them to talk. You can't guess, you need to hear it from them directly to help them narrow down their choices about what they need, what they can't do without and what doesn't matter. Buyers narrow down their choices by deciding what they DON'T want. Buyers always think they know what they want, but look-sees almost always prove them wrong. This is especially true with buyers from out of town who may not be used to the local flavors of the home-stock.

Help your buyers understand value vs. price: Warren Buffett said, "price is what you pay; value is what you get." Some buyers can't see the value in homes. They get hung up on carpet, colors, smells, a window in the wrong place. There are a lot of cosmetically-challenged homes out there that are great deals and just require a little bit of discussion, imagination and legwork. Call in a local contractor if needed to put a price on the kinds of changes that might make a buyer interested in making an offer.

More from this contributor:
New Real Estate Agent? Be Sure You Choose an Email Address Wisely!
Getting a Second (or Third) Real Estate License in Another State
Local Real Estate Norms and Customs Are Not the Same Everywhere!