10.15.09 You are working with a buyer client and there are way too many homes that fit their wants and price range. They want to see every new listing that comes on within 25% of their price range.

[Elaine Stucy]

And they are in a hurry, so they want to see homes every day. At this rate, you will end up showing them 80 homes!

What are the most important questions to ask?

[Yancy Whittaker]

Before we see and do anything, we're gonna need your verification of funds account statement, approval letter from your lender and signed Buyer Agency Disclosures, when can you get that to me??? Once that's on file and in order to use our time effectively, allow me to suggest I send you the property profiles of each home within your search criteria for you to pre-view, it's been my experience with past clients especially those from out of town, that by pre-viewing the properties profile with pictures/virtual tours many homes came be ruled out, once we have the core homes to tour, I can then easily arrange showings and from that we can norrow it down to the few you may wish to re-visit till we find the one...it's an excellent way to maxiumize our time and it works wonders, would you be open to that??? Now, define exactly what measure of Now or Time do you mean when you say you're in a hurry???...how much time do you put on looking for the one???...when we find the one do you have a specific period of time you'd like escrow to close by???...do you have to sell anything in order to buy???...cause if you do I've got a whole other set of questions for ya, like is it listed or might it in escrow???...if not, would you be open to allowing me to help you sell at a fair market value to get a offer real quick to get sold and make your move on the home we find here??? .........

[Melody Rogers-Kelley]

If we found the house today, are you prepared to buy it? Have you been pre-approved by a lender? By saying you are " in a hurry" what time frame do you mean? I'd like to e mail you listings that fit your criteria and have you look at them..pictures, virtual tour etc and let me know what properties you'd liike to see. Many times you can eliminate wasting your time just by viewing them on the internet. Does that work for you? Do you have a property that you need to sell in order to buy your new home? If so, is it currently listed? If not, may I list it for you at a price that will bring offers? Great. Let's do the paperwork for your house and I'll send you all the properties that fit your criteria , so you can look through them and let me know which ones you would like to see. I look forward to working with you to sell your home at a good rpice in a timely manner and finding you the perfect new home.


Ah Elaine...if it were only that easy.

[john steiner]

Are we any nearer this week than last? Is there anything that sticks in your mind from what we have already seen? When you have answered those last two questions I want that you put a pencil through the ones that you would never want to buy.

[Gary Price]

If we found the house today would you buy it?

You say you are in a hurry, what does that mean?

What will you do if you do not find the home in this time period?

I will only show you homes that you are qualified to purchase. I dont want to waste your time or mine showing you homes you can't afford. Does that make sense to you?

Do you need to sell before you can buy?

I'd like to email you homes that fit your criteria and you can preview them in the comforts of your home. You can select the homes you would like me to make an appointment for you to see. Does that work for you?

[Steven Ross]

What are the THREE most important things your new home MUST have?
Have you spent any time driving some of these areas - have you gone into the Starubucks, market, etc, to see who your neighbors will be?
What is your ideal budget?
Due to a bizarre cosmic event, there will be NO MORE homes coming on the market for the next 12 months. You MUST pick one of the houses we have already seen. What are your 3 top choices, and why?

[Josef Szigeti]

If I listen really carefully to what you want, and than show you one property that perfectly meets your needs for a great price, would you still like to see all the other homes in your price range?

[David Griffith]

Agent: Of all the homes we have seen so far you said you liked xxx the best and there were several others that stood no chance for several reasons. Why dont we see the ones that you would definitely buy and not waste our times looking at ones you wont, does that make sense?
Buyer: Yes

[Tracy King]

When do you want to be in your home?
How about you look at every home online, pick the top 3, and we look at them today? If one of them isn't the right home for you, we can discuss what we saw and refine your search.
What's more important, price or timing?

[Kendyl Young]

I'm going to make some assumptions, here. 1. These are engineers who need assurance that every possible datapoint has been considered and analyzed prior to a decision making and 2. there is a time deadline for making said decision. If there isn't, you're screwed.

Ms. Analysis and Mr. Paralysis, I understand your problem. You need to know you've considered everything before such a large decision can be made! I get it. Here is a complete list of all homes available within the given parameters. Here is a map of all the properties and a chart showing the relation ship to price and time on the market. This chart shows the relationship between time and the delta between list price and sales price. We can see that the variable for homes on the market for less that 60 days is less than 4.75% and it is therefore nearly statistically impossible for a home on the market for less than 60days to sell for 25% off the price. Therefore,in this list, I have only included homes that have a statistical chance of selling within your price parameters... unless- there is data you have failed to include regarding you price abilities? No? Ok, then, moving on. Research has shown that buyers will make a decision NOT to buy a home within 17 seconds of pulling to the curb (NAR study Nov. 2006). THEREfore the most efficient way to meet your goals is for you to drive up to each of the homes on our carefully analyzed list. Please note those which you WOULD consider buying and we will take it from there.

Any questions?

I think even Sheldon would appreciate this approach. Oh, did I ever tell you guys that I started selling homes in Silicon Valley and ALL my clients were digit and gear heads?