My favorite buyer strategy - what's yours?
After reading and hearing far too many agents complain about showing dozens of houses to home buyers - running all over town and taking up TONS of time, I came up with an idea that has served me well. Now, what I'll do is to identify the house that I believe is the BEST one - the one that most fits with the buyer's wants and needs (which we will have already discussed at length, of course). When scheduling showings, I schedule that one FIRST - even if it's not the most logical from a location standpoint, etc. If there's a close second, I'll schedule that one next. The reason for this is because I want them comparing all the other houses to what seems to be the best one. If every house they see after that isn't as good, they tend to get tired of looking and are more ready to make a decision quickly. If, on the other hand, you show them houses randomly, you run the risk of them thinking "the last one was better than the one before it - if I just keep looking, maybe there will be an even better one tomorrow." I let them know that I'm starting with the one that seems to be the best fit. That way, they'll realize that (a) I'm in tune with what they want (or not - and we'll adjust); and (b) continuing to look isn't going to get better - it's just going to get worse. Sometimes, they'll decide that none of them are "the one" - so we'll just wait a couple of weeks to see what new listings come on the market - and that's OK, too. At least I'm not spending days and days showing houses they won't want. I would love to hear what tips and tricks others have developed - so, please share!