The Best Conversation Between a Real Estate Agent and Buyer
A Script That Will Help Your Buyer Choose a Home
When you are working with a buyer, it can be endlessly frustrating when they just can’t find the right home. It isn’t just frustrating for the real estate agent, it is challenging for the client looking to buy a home.
Here, you will learn two powerful scripts and techniques that you can use to help the buyer along the process. These are best used at the time of an initial buyer consultation then again when you are not able to find what they are looking for, however, you can use it any point in the process.
For me, the record number of homes that I have shown to a buyer is 96! This took approximately 1 year and I showed this buyer homes almost every week. It was tiring going from property to property and having endless phone conversations with him about his criteria. At that time, I was new in my career, so I didn’t have the tools, (such as the two you are about to learn) to help him along the process.
It’s important to not just focus on getting the buyer into a home. There are real estate agents out there that will push to just sell the home and get the buyer in, but these agents usually don’t last too long in the industry.
As a buyer’s agent, you need to listen to the buyer and help them through the process. It’s your job to help find solution to the challenges in their search.
Script and Technique 1
This script is one of the most important concepts for buyers to understand as they are going through the process. More than a script, it is a technique that helps them put the buying process into perspective.
We call this The Big 3
Price – They want to stay within their budget
Location – They want to be in their preferred neighborhood
Property – They want a property with the right level of upgrades, size, etc.
These are the 3 things that buyers want: the right type of property, in the best area, and within their budget.
When dealing with buyers, we say that they can choose 2 of these.
If they want the right price and in the right location then they may need to sacrifice features or size. If they need a certain type of house in a specific location, they may need to increase their budget. If they need a certain house and they can’t change their budget then they may need to be open to new locations.
Explaining this to buyers helps them understand that they need to make sacrifices and they need to be flexible with their “perfect house”. In reality, there is no perfect home. Even a brand new, custom built home will have flaws.
Ideally, you will discuss this with the buyer prior to the time when you need to bring it up. If you can discuss this at the time of the buyer consultation then you can bring attention to it again when you are struggling to find the perfect property.
Script and Technique 2
This script and technique plays directly into the first. With this concept, you are giving the buyer the freedom to select an unperfect property.
After showing each house, I ask the buyer to rate the home out of 10. However, I lead into this by letting them know that most buyers end up in a home that is an 8 out of 10.
It’s great if you can let the client know in the buyer consultation that most buyers will select a property that is an 8 out of 10. That way, when you ask them to rate the home out of 10, then already have the seed planted that most buyers will buy an 8 out of 10.
Naturally, if the home isn’t perfect, they will say a 6 or 7, you then follow up by asking, “Great! Tell me what would make this property an 8?”
By asking this question, we are digging deep into why this home doesn’t work. Is it as simple as a coat of paint or do you need to renovate the kitchen?
Ultimately, this technique’s power is in freeing the buyer to select a home that is not perfect.
Conclusion:
Working with buyers can be an art. It is an emotional process for them and as a real estate agent, we need to help them through the process.
The first technique helps buyers keep their criteria in check and shows them that compromises usually need to be made. The second technique gives the buyer the freedom to choose a home that is not a 10/10.
Use these 2 techniques with your buyers and you will have them happily in a home before you know it!
Podcast Transcript:
[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to Rev Real Estate School. The podcast with quick tips and actionable advice to help you sell more real estate in today's world. And now your host Michael Montgomery.
[00:00:11] Hello and welcome back to another episode of Rev Real Estate School. My name is Michael Montgomery. Do you ever have the problem of showing a buyer a ton of homes only to have them potentially throw in the towel or change their criteria on you or do something that causes you to either do 10 times more work or not get paid at all?
[00:00:31] Today, we are going to learn one very quick strategy to help buyers through this. Plus there is a one bonus tip at the end so I don't know about you but my record is ninety six homes with one client showing them ninety six properties. Now this was early on in my career so I didn't quite know how to best approach it. I just kept booking showings knowing that eventually we will find the right one. And as I continue to book them towards the end of this experience I was almost thinking I should just let this buyer go but I'm so bored and already I've already showed them you know 70 homes. What's another what's another 20 some. So when this happens and inevitably will happen to most real estate agents having something like this strategy in your back pocket can be absolutely huge.
[00:01:24] Now for this episode, head on over to these show notes and you can actually download my exact buyer's guide that I use. And this strategy is right in there it's towards the end of my buyer's guide. So you can download that you can look at it see if it makes sense for you and for your business practice.
[00:01:41] Let's chat about what this is. How can we overcome this issue of showing somebody ninety six plus homes? This is the strategy that I use and it's it's coming from the understanding that what the buyer wants is they want the right price. So they need something that's within their budget or they want something that's within their budget. They want the location so they want the area that makes the most sense for them. And then they want the house. So they want either the upgrades or the condition or the size whatever features of the home that they are looking for.
[00:02:12] Those three things are three major players. And what the buyer is going to choose the price the location and then the house. What I let buyers know is in most cases you're going to have to choose two of those you're going to have to choose two of those.
[00:02:30] When that is said to the buyer you can almost see it instantly their eyes just open wider and they get it. They totally get it. The reason is for price point it doesn't really matter what your price point is whether it's $100,000 or whether it's $3 million. Most buyers want something that's just outside their price point. It doesn't matter what the price point is. And knowing this but also communicating it to the buyer is so powerful because oftentimes when buyers are getting into the whole buying process they think that their challenges are just theirs and no other buyer deals with this.
[00:03:10] So coming back to the fact that for price most buyers out there want what's just outside of their budget for location. This can differ. So sometimes we have our locations that we really want to be in and sometimes we have our locations that we need to be in. As far as school zones go and that sort of thing. So sometimes location can be something that can be adjusted. Other times it can't but location is a subjective thing for most buyers. The thing about location is if they're not tied to something within that location you as the real estate agent can help move them towards potentially another location another community where their budget and their home will fit.
[00:03:52] The third one being on the house. So upgrades conditions size whatever that might be whatever they are looking for in the property. They of course want those things but they want it for the right price. That one that the right location and they want it with the right upgrades the condition the size and all sorts of things like that. So when I let them know. OK. Those are the three things. Would you agree. They will. They will definitely nod their head and say yes and then I say you can choose two of those. And then that's again when their eyes just get wider and they fully understand what's going on here is you can't have absolutely everything. You just can't.
[00:04:29] As a buyer and if you do have ever absolutely everything great the chances of that happening are so so slim. So giving the buyer the freedom and the ability to choose two of those things that are the most important to them and you'll see in the buyer's guide in the show notes that this is very clearly explained to them directly in my buyer's guide when I'm going through a buyer presentation I go over this right off the bat and that way when we're going through the homes and they're not finding what they're looking for I can come back to this and say oh remember those three things. And then they start to nod their head again and understand where you're coming from. So remember those three things.
[00:05:07] Let them know they can pick to the next thing we're going to how about very quickly here is just a little bonus strategy when you are dealing with a buyer such as this when you're getting up to those ninety six showings and you're showing a ton of homes it's a little strategy that can work.
[00:05:21] This bonus strategy is best used at the time of having the buyer consultation going over this beforehand just like going over the three things beforehand then prompts them. So when you're out there looking at properties they're already aware of it and they remember it. When I'm going through homes with people. If you haven't done that at this point and you're out with buyers and you're just hitting your head against a wall trying to get them into a place that they like you can still use this. So it's not like you have to have said this during the during the buyer consultation but it just helps.
[00:05:53] OK. So the way this bonus strategy works is when you are done showing the home to the buyers just ask them to rate it out of 10. And I would recommend using 10. So get them to give you a rating out of 10 before they answer that though. I typically give them the freedom to choose an 8. So the way that this is done is I say and if I haven't said this during the buyer consultation again I would just prompt them with this beforehand and ask them the rate the home out of 10. And also let them know you know what most buyers will end up selecting at home that is around an 8. What you are doing here is again giving them freedom to choose a home that is not perfect. So after you've said that they might rate it and they probably won't say 8 if they're not in love with it. Right. So they might say OK well this one's a 7. This one's a 6. From there the follow up question is OK well what would make this an 8. And when you're done showing a property every time you've shown the property just ask them to rate it out of 10. And then if they're not giving you an eight or nine or something in that realm then just ask them Well what what changes would you make in order for this to become an 8, 9 or 10.
[00:07:02] It's just so powerful because you do not want your buyer to be looking for that diamond in the rough. It probably doesn't even exist right. So they have to make compromises and what you're doing with this technique is just giving them again the freedom to choose the home that isn't perfect. So again head on over to these show notes if you want to download the buyer's guide and watch a quick video on this. Same concept as well. And thank you very much for listening to this episode. And we will catch you in the next lesson.
[00:07:38] This episode of Rev Real Estate School has come to a close. Thank you for tuning in. We'll see you back here for the next lesson.
Questions: How many homes is the max that you have shown to a buyer? Let me know in the comments below.
-Michael Montgomery
