The Eager Buyer

A buyer recently came to me through one of my listings. They wanted to buy a home cash and own free and clear from any monthly mortgage obligations. Great, I thought. In this market there are so many low-priced homes, cash sales are becoming a popular trend.

Well this buyer was very unique. When I attempted to secure a meeting time with him, I offered time slots to meet and he would say, “I can’t” or “I’ll call you and let you know when.” Most of these meeting times were tentative. He mentioned that he had appointments that would come up at the last-minute and he could not secure a definite time with me. “Well what about weekends”, I asked? There has to be some time that you can allot to other parts of your life, like buying a house.

What made the situation more complicated, was when the buyer finally had time to meet, it was at that moment. He would call and say. “I’m in front of a house now and I want to see it, can you show it to me?” The first time, I was in the middle of a showing myself and couldn’t make it. I asked if we can meet later and I received the same response, “call me and I’ll see if I’m available.” So I called and he wasn’t.

The next time he called requesting an immediate showing, I took about 30 minutes to thoroughly explain the complete process and secure a committed day/time for showings. I successfully got a noon meeting where I had the opportunity to review some homes that fit his criteria. It took a while for me to reel this buyer in and just explain the entire home purchasing process, my working process and for us to develop effective communication. Needless to say we are working like a well oiled machine, and he should be closing on his first home shortly.

Lesson to Buyer: Your Real Estate Agent navigates you through all the real estate challenges, jargons, paperwork, contracts, etc. You need to work with your agent, and develop a cohesive and effective working rhythm in order to meet your real estate goals.

Lesson to Agent: In a market where there are so many variables, be willing to go that extra mile to educate your buyers and make them comfortable with not only the home buyer process but working with you as well.