Danger:
Your Health Can Be At Risk When You Show Too Many Homes!!
How many homes do you show your buyers each time you drive them around? How often do you show homes with each buyer? Once, twice a week? To avoid shocking your buyers into a state of immobility, show limited quantities of homes.
Showing homes is like ordering food at a fast food restaurant. When you go to certain restaurants where the menu is like a textbook (since there are so many selections to choose from), it is sometimes difficult for you to decide what to order. However, if you go to one that specializes in just a few items and they do it well, then it is as easy as 1-2-3 to order. A good example of this is at In-N-Out Burgers. They have a very simple menu. You either order 1) Hamburger 2) Cheeseburger 3) Double double. It includes fries and drinks and if you want a milk shake then just add that to it.
As an example, let me share with you the experience I had when visiting a new neighborhood eatery. I stood and stared at the extensive menu on the wall. The cashier asked, "May I help you?" I had to tell him "I'm not ready. Just a minute please. I'm making up my mind."
If you think about it, it is kind of silly that I’m expending so much energy over this because I am just ordering food. After all, it is not a differential equation that I need to integrate or a chemical compound that I need to mix. Yet, I felt as though I was back in college solving complex mathematical calculations…and this was supposed to be a relatively easy task of placing an order for lunch. I felt rather awkward standing there with my mind running its cycles while the cashier looked at me as though I was an alien from outer space. Sometimes, all you need is to get good at something specific, and to give the clients an easy way to make decisions.
When decisions are hard to make because there are so many different moving parts to the picture, procrastination and inaction kicks in. This is human nature at its finest. Given too many choices we choose none! Like with having too many choices when ordering food, when agents show buyers too many homes, it may overwhelm the buyers. For buyers who don’t really know what they want, the issue gets worse since the more houses they see, the more they will keep switching back and forth on what they are looking for. They don't need to see 100 homes before buying a house. It is simply too time consuming and it may do more harm than good. I'm sure some buyers don't want to see too many homes, but some may, and you just have to know where to draw the line.
The real estate market also makes a huge difference in how buyers make decisions when they buy a home. In a seller’s market, buyers jump on homes and make jumpstart decisions. Now, in a buyer’s market, with so much choice and the accompanying media hype of reporters telling people not to buy a house, many buyers will freeze up and think about it for days on end.
Keep in mind to stay light and easy in both eating and showing homes!!
In many market areas, there are so many homes on the market at this time that agents need to "weed out" a majority of them to help buyers focus on the homes that match up with what is desired. The important part of the selection process for the agent is to listen to the buyers when they explain what they want. It makes a big difference when you pull out and hand over to the buyers a list of homes that most match their needs. With the amount of inventory available, buyers are nervous because they want the most for their dollar. Therefore, to make the process smoother, the criteria of what the buyers are looking for has to be established up front so everyone is on the same page. If you know the inventory and you know your clients, you should be able to eliminate some choices beforehand. Most of the process of elimination of the available homes down to only the ones that could interest your buyer can be accomplished via email or phone.
Check out part 2 of this 2 part series to find out specific tips on how you can show just the right amount of homes and get a purchase agreement signed quicker.