| Exclusive Las Cruces Residences | ||
Fielding FSBO Phone Calls |
||
| By FSBO Website Design | ||
| Can you imagine how you’d feel if a stranger came up to you on the street and started asking you a series of personal questions without telling you who they were and why they were asking? I know I’d be pretty annoyed and likely wouldn’t answer any of their questions.
Oddly enough, my sister was in a very similar situation when she was selling her house in Minneapolis. The only difference was that her inquirer used a telephone. By the time she even thought to ask who was calling the caller was off the line and knew how much equity she had in her house, how much she owed, how long she’d lived there and how long she’d been trying to sell it. This is invaluable information to a real estate agent trying to subtly sow doubt in the mind of a FSBO seller. If you want to sell your house you’re going to need to take control. And you have every right to that control. Your house is your most valuable possession. Don’t cede control of anything to anyone where the sale of your property is concerned. When someone calls you have every right to know who they are and what they want. Don’t be afraid to require this information. You’re going to be fielding plenty of phone calls so you should know how to cut short the unproductive ones (real estate agents) and convey clear and compelling information to the rest (home buyers). A polite and friendly "who’s calling, please?" should be your first response to anyone who does not immediately identify themselves. (Your second question should be "Are you a real estate professional or a home buyer?") Should they plunge forward without addressing the question or give an evasive answer such as "I’m interested in your house for sale," just repeat the query in the same calm and friendly manner. I’ve never had a person ignore my request more than twice. Even pushy real estate agents will realize they’re not going to get any information from you without first giving some. Further, and more importantly, you’ve let them know that they’re not dealing with a pushover. Worried that you’ll scare off a good prospect? Don’t be. If someone is truly interested in your property they won’t mind sharing information on an equal basis. It’s the real estate agent who is concerned with extracting information from you without providing any in return. List your property on a FSBO web site to help weed out the good prospects from the bad. Most FSBO web sites will allow several pictures and unlimited information. If your prospect has found you from your web page they’re a serious lead. If they haven’t, give them the URL to your page. They’ll be able to find out quite a bit more than you’d be able to tell them on the phone. If they call back they’re another good prospect. If they don’t, you wouldn’t have been able to sell to them anyway. You should decide before marketing your property whether you’ll pay a buyer’s agent’s commission and how much. You don’t want to get into a negotiation with an agent on the phone. If you decide beforehand what you want to do then it’ll just be a matter of telling the agent. You should also be ready for the agent who will try to scare you into listing with him or her. Many agents will try to convince home sellers that they are risking losing their life savings. Don’t believe them. Furthermore, don’t even get into a position where you have to debate the issue. Hire a real estate attorney. Relative to an agent’s commission they’re a bargain and will know far more regarding the legalities of real estate transactions than your typical real estate agent or broker. When real estate agents or brokers start the scare tactics you can shut them down with a simple statement of fact. "My real estate attorney is reviewing all offers and paper work." But don’t hire a real estate lawyer just so you can tell some nosy agent to bug off. Do it for your own peace of mind. If they’re persistent and want to know who your lawyer is, just let them know you’d rather not say. Take control of the conversation. Realize that you have nothing to gain by talking to an agent who is trying to list your home. Don’t answer their questions. Let them know you’ve already decided upon a particular agent should your FSBO efforts fail and, no, you don’t want to tell them who. Thank them for calling and say goodbye. Remember, you have every right to know who is calling you and why. You can and should control the conversation and you don’t need to be impolite or unfriendly to do so. Review the following three conversations for some further guidance. Sample Conversation #1Seller: Hello? Caller: Hi, I saw your house for sale ad. I was wondering how long you’ve had it on the market. Seller: Who’s calling, please? Caller: Because I’ve been looking for a while and I think I’d’ve remembered your house. Seller: Who’s calling, please? Caller: Do you know the assessed value? Seller: Who’s calling, please? Caller: Charles Dumar. Do you know the assessed value? Seller: Are you a real estate professional, Charles? Caller: Yes, I am. I’m an agent with Dumas Realty in Maple Dale. Do you owe much on your current mortgage? Seller: Are you a buyer’s agent, Charles? Caller: Well, yeah, I represent buyers, but I’m also a listing agent. Who’s handling your paperwork for you? Seller: So you don’t have a client who’s interested in my house? Caller: Well, I might, but I’d need to know that you’d pay my commission. Seller: I’m willing to pay my buyer’s agent 2%. If you want more than that you’ll have to get it from your client. Also, I require agents to inform their clients of this arrangement prior to any showing. Caller: Oh. You didn’t tell me who’s handling your paperwork. Seller: No. I didn’t. I have to go now. Thanks for calling. Caller: You could be sued. Seller: Bye. Sample Conversation #2Seller: Hello? Caller: Hi. I saw your "house for sale" ad and I wanted to ask you a few questions. Seller: Who’s calling, please? Caller: My name is Heather McCarthy. Seller: Hi Heather. Are you looking to buy a home or are you a real estate professional? Caller: I’m a buyer’s broker and I have a client who’s interested in your house. I’d like to bring them by for a look if you’re okay with that. Seller: Well, I hadn’t planned on paying a buyer’s broker’s commission. You can bring them buy if you first let them know they’d have to pay your commission on this house. Caller: I’ll talk to them about that and get back to you. Seller: Sounds good. Thanks for calling. Caller: Thanks. Bye. Sample Conversation #3Seller: Hello? Caller: Hi. I’m calling about your "house for sale" ad. Is the property still available? Seller: Who’s calling, please? Caller: My name’s Tom Gunderson. I saw your house ad in the Sunday classifieds. Seller: Hi Tom. I’m Janet O’Neill. The house is still for sale. Have you seen our Internet ad? Caller: No, I haven’t. Seller: It has a lot of information on the house. Pictures, description, taxes. If you give me your email address I’ll send you the link. Caller: Okay, it’s tomg@spamnet.com. Would you mind telling me if you’ve had any offers. Seller: We’ve had a few. One serious, but it fell through. The buyer’s eyes were bigger than his budget. Are you pre-qualified? Caller: No, I’m not. Should I be? Seller: Absolutely. You’ll come across as a much more serious buyer when negotiating if you’re pre-qualified. Frankly, I’m going to require it of buyers before considering their offers to purchase from now on. I don’t want to end up wasting time like I did on that first offer. Caller: Well that sounds like a good idea. I’ll check out your web page. Thanks for all the info. Seller: You’re welcome. Let me know if you want to setup an appointment to see the house. I don’t do open houses. Caller: You don’t? Why not? Seller: I think they’re just for real estate agents to make contacts. They say only 2% of houses sell through open house showings. I’ve been doing all my showings by appointment only. Caller: Okay, sounds good. Thanks again. Seller: You’re welcome. Goodbye. Caller: Bye. Copyright 2004 by David Zwiefelhofer, FSBO Website Design |
||