Transcription
In this video, I'm going to show you exactly how to handle buyers who say, "We're going to wait and see what else comes on the market." And turn that hesitation into a signed offer without ever sounding pushy. This is the same framework I've used to help close over a billion dollars in real estate, guiding buyers from fear and indecision to clarity and contracts. We're going to break down the exact discovery questions to ask, how to use the 7-day action plan to eliminate what-ifs, and the single line that separates a hopeful buyer from a serious one. So, if you want to close more buyers, protect your pipeline, and lead conversations like a true pro, this video is for you. Let's get into it.
What we're going to dig into today, buyers who want to wait because they think a better home's going to be listed next week, is something we're going to see more of, not less. I remember back in 2012, '13, '14 when there was all the inventory in the world in my market. It's like, how can you not be buying? But yet buyers still said they were waiting for something else. It's like we're at all-time highs in 2012, '13, '14. How are you waiting for something? What else could possibly come? Everything's listed, but more inventory, and that's the market that we're, a lot of us are entering right now. More inventory actually creates more confusion. And then buyers who are uncertain, don't have the right guidance, end up waiting too long because they're like, "I think more is going to come on the market."
One thing we would all agree on, we don't want to come off as aggressively salesy or pushy in this situation. Really, ever. Never, right? But you've got somebody that's like, "Hey, I think I just need to wait. I need more time. I need to wait to see if another house comes on the market. I don't want to be disappointed if the next home's the perfect one." Perfect homes don't exist. There's right homes. There's not perfect ones, but if we push hard against that, we're going to push them away.
Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more, Byron. Things I would remove from your vocabulary before we get into this. "Dream home," right? Someone buying a first-time property, it's like a three-bedroom townhome. I don't know if that's their dream home. Okay. Like some people move. Stop using these things that make people think they're going to get this amazing property because you're set. It's like when people would say the market was crazy. Remember that? Like that would scare a lot of folks off. So, "dream home." I would remove that.
I start off with, "Hey, you know what, Lisa? You know, waiting is absolutely a strategy. We want you to buy the right home, not the next home. So, tell me, what does that right home look like for you?" And then get into particulars, get into discovery mode and bring it back to motivation. So, you know, Lisa tells me, well, Lisa, let's actually go through this. So, "Hey Lisa, to totally get that waiting is definitely a strategy and we want you to buy the right home, not the next home. So, what does that right home look like for you?"
"Well, ideally it's, you know, four beds, two and a half baths, two-car attached garage in this particular school district, and definitely in a neighborhood type setting."
"Okay, got it. So, you want four bedrooms, you want a two-car attached garage, two bathrooms, you want to stay in the school district, and that sounds like that's pretty important to you. Tell me a little bit more about that. Are your kids in school right now? Which schools do they go to? Just so I can best identify the right properties for you."
"Yeah, they're in ABC school. They've got great friends there. They know the teachers in the community. We're all the kids, you know, myself and my husband, we're all embedded into that school community, and that's a non-negotiable for us."
"You know, my wife and I did the same thing about five years ago. We had to keep our kids in the elementary school, which is even tougher because there's six of them in the school district here. So, I'm a parent. I totally get that. So, it sounds like the biggest non-negotiable is going to be the location and the school district. What else is going to be important to you? What else gets you excited about moving?"
"Like we've discussed, I really don't want to have to do any work. We did so much work on our existing home and, you know, I just really want something that's move-in ready and where I can see us staying for the next, you know, 20 years."
"Perfect. So, you're looking for that 20-year property, you don't want to do a lot of work. I totally get that. So, knowing that the location is going to be pretty important to you, if we found something that hit the rest of those measurables that are a lot harder to change, what would it take for you not to want to move ahead with a home that maybe needs some cosmetic work or you could live in and do some work as you live there?"
"You know, it sometimes it's just a feeling."
"Got it. Got it. Perfect. Okay. Well, and the reason I ask is you're going to, we want you to buy the right home, the home that's going to be right for you. What I don't want to do is limit the properties we're getting in front of you because I'd hate you to miss an opportunity knowing we've got a very narrow bullseye when it comes to the location. So, what would a move like this do for your family?"
"Um, I mean, it gives us more space. It gives me a home office so that I don't have to drive to the office every day. Um, you know, with a pool in the backyard. Hopefully, the kids and their friends all congregate here. It's lifestyle."
"Got it. I totally get that. So, it sounds like it's really going to level up your lifestyle and you make it feel like a place you guys can, like you said, be for the next couple decades. So, that's incredible, right? And so knowing that you want to be there long-term, you know where you want to be, you know what kind of home that you want. I'm a big believer that you've got to look at some bad properties to see the good ones because if you're only looking at the homes that on paper or online in this case look great. I've seen a ton of homes with bad photography with horrible video. This actually happened to my wife and I where she hated the home we ended up moving into. It was on the market six months and we ended up buying it and she's thrilled now. So, would you at least be open-minded to maybe touring some properties? And if none of them work, that's cool with me, but that way it's going to give you a better perspective about what's going on in the market?"
"Yeah, absolutely. Great. So I got these couple of properties here. I don't know if they'll be for you, blah blah blah. Let me go through and set up some tours. Go ahead."
But you kind of... Yeah. So I love where we're at right now. This took the direction of somebody who we haven't had a buyer consultation with. We don't have a lot of information. So Tom went that direction. This is a new buyer lead, buyer opportunity, whatever. We're building rapport, and that's the direction there. I think where we get stuck on this more than the beginning. You know, at the beginning, somebody doesn't show us all the times their cars that they want to wait till next week to see better homes.
But when we're in the process of working with the buyer, which means we know what school district they want to be in, we know all of the particulars of the house that they want to be in, but we may not truly understand their timeline, their true budget, or what they're going to give up to get that house. Okay. So, what do I mean by this? When an agent says, "We've been looking for two months, and they are now still waiting for the right home." Well, did you truly understand what they were looking for? Or did you truly understand timeline? If their timeline's never-ending, categorizing them as your top buyer client right now is a big mistake. Did you truly understand budget? Have you had the conversation with them of what they're looking for is outside their budget?
Here's a couple things I wrote down that maybe we can go with here. Remember, I like how and what questions. I want to lead with how and what. But one thing I do want to ask, if we're in the process of looking at homes and they're like, "I'm not going to make an offer on this one. I think I'm going to wait. Probably be something else coming on onto the market." "Hey Tom, how quick do you see yourself moving when the right house comes on the market?"
Now, before Tom answers, I want to give you guys both sides of this. Okay? Most of the time, most of the coaches in this industry will train you to say, "Well, how soon do you need to be moved into the house?" And that is, it's an important question. You can get to it two different ways. So, a lot of times we're trained in this business. It's like, "How soon do you need to move in the house?" That seems pushy. Seems I'm in it for me. I'm in it for how soon can I get to a commission. Are you going to buy ASAP? That's not building a strategy. And the reason why I say, Tom, this could be to my client, Tom, this could be totally wrong. This could be the wrong way to look at this, but just go with me on this. This is just a thought pattern. Just go with me on this. "How quick do you see yourself moving when the right home comes on the market?"
Okay, I haven't used "perfect home." I haven't used "if the right home comes on the market." "If" creates doubt that the right home will come on the market. "When the right home comes on the market." So, Tom, if we're kind of playing along on this, how quickly, Tom, play along with me here. This could be totally wrong, but how quickly do you see yourself moving when the right home hits the market? So go ahead.
"Yeah, yeah, I mean, that's a good question. As long as there's not something better coming on the market, Byron, I mean, that's, you know, everyone's talking about inventory growing and I hate like us to jump on the first thing and something better comes along in a few months."
"Okay, so here's where I'm at. If when the right home comes on the market, you'll move instantly. And just go with me on this now. If on the other end of that, if we're ready to move now, if the right home came on the market, on the other end of that, what is the current deadline? The shot clock's running out. I got to make a decision by X. Do you have a shot clock on the process?"
"We're okay living where we are now. I mean, it's getting cramped. We're on three stories. My son won't sleep on the third floor. So, he's on the floor in our room. We're looking for the right home sooner than later, Byron, I guess, is the best way to answer that."
"Yeah. And I totally get the feeling that we're looking at 123 right now, and the feeling of something better might come. And Tom, this strategy might not be for you, but it removes that guessing part that something might come in the future. And it's called a 7-day action plan. Can I walk you through that?"
"Yeah, yeah, for sure."
"Okay. So, 7-day action plan looks like this. We go ahead and wait the seven days because this one's been on the market 20 days. We risk losing it. We look at seven homes in seven days, but on the seventh day, if the right home doesn't come on the market, we move forward with our predetermined offer on 123 Main Street. Okay. So, the risk here is we lose 123 Main Street. Nothing better is on the market. Option number two, Tom, is we go ahead and make an offer on 123 Main Street. Build in the protection for you in the contingencies knowing that in seven days we could get ourselves out of this deal through the inspection. So, what feels riskier to you? Waiting seven days, seeing other homes, or moving forward with the protection on this home?"
"You got me."
"I love what you said there. You're talking about controlling the property. I've used this before like, 'Hey, let's control this property for the next seven days.' Yeah, you don't want to buy it. Let's kill the deal. That's fine. But if we control it for the next week, you're going to feel a little better, or maybe you find something else. And by the way, we've controlled it for the next week, or we're writing an offer in seven days. We're back in offer writing using one of two strategies."
I think that there's one part that like I always coach folks to remember. Um, and it's the question about, "What specifically about this home has the consumer hesitating?" Is it the price? Is it the layout, location? Or is it just the fear of the unknown? Right? Because I think sometimes we think it checks all the boxes, but there's something about it that's causing the consumer to hesitate. And if it is just the unknown, I think that you guys go in the right path to get them to write an offer with contingencies and focusing on again, the right home.
There is never a perfect home. There's a right home. And if it checks all of those boxes, right? If we can eliminate that it's the price, the layout, the exact location, something about the neighborhood, right? If we can get the buyer to articulate that it's truly just wondering if something better is going to come on the market. And like Tom and Lisa have both done, like, "Hey, I hear you. It has to be right." I think Tom said in the beginning, like, "I want you to buy the right home, not the next home."
"Yeah, I want you to buy the right home, not the next home. Like, wait. Waiting is a strategy. The de-escalation here upfront is super important. We get an objection. The goal is to de-escalate the objection. Okay? They're going to say, they're not going to say, 'Tom, I don't know. Maybe I should wait. What do you think?' They're going to say, 'Hey, Tom, I think I'm waiting.' It's an objection. Our job is to, 'Hey, I hear you, Tom.' Like, it has to be right. No question about it. It has to be the right home. And Tom, just to clarify, are we waiting because we believe something better is coming or because we know that there's something better lined up? Like, do we believe something better is coming or do we know something better is lined up? Because on the market, off the market, I don't know that something better is lined up. But if you've heard, maybe you left an open house last weekend and one of the neighbors stopped you in the road and said, 'I'm listing my house on Tuesday,' and I don't have that information. Now, I don't want to be in the situation as an agent not to have the inside baseball, but it's possible that I could be. So, like, do you know something better is lined up? Do we believe or do we know? Believe, hope, not a strategy. Knowing, putting together a strategy, whether it's a 7-day action plan or something different, provides opportunity to actually get closer to our end deal of closing on the property."