Ignorance is Not Bliss

Working with first time home buyers often means coping with a substantial case of Dunning-Kruger effect. The less they know, the more confident they are in their views. A novice buyer is often an unrealistic negotiator, offering absurd figures for prime property. When you’re trying to sell a house to a new buyer, you’re likely to lose sales on a string of homes due to unrealistic offers.

Solutions:

• When you’re working with first time home buyers, try to be as helpful as possible in informing them of their options without making decisions for them. If they want to make a lowball offer on a property, let them do so and learn from the process.
• Offer novice buyers material that they can use to educate themselves about the home buying process and your local market. Listings, investment analyses, and mortgage calculators are perfect for this.

Indecision

Working with first time home buyers comes with plenty of indecision, and if you’re not careful, you could lose a lot of valuable time to them.

• Go straight to the heart of the problem. Give them space to communicate how they feel and what’s causing their indecisiveness. Listen actively by telling them how you perceive what they’ve said. This ensures you’re both on the same page.
• Clarify their needs early on. Spend time digging into their dreams with the help of a buyer questionnaire form. Deal with any objections directly, managing expectations if they’re unreasonably high.
• Encourage a sense of urgency. The housing market is constantly in flux, so today’s prices are rarely tomorrow’s.
• Clarify their needs further by separating homes into niches. This way you can reduce the number of properties they view, cutting down on indecision simultaneously.

Third Party Opinions

Friends and family “advisers” are almost guaranteed when you’re working with first time home buyers because they feel unsure of themselves. Trusted reinforcements are usually brought into all realtor communication, amplifying confusion and increasing your workload.

Solutions:

• Don’t discuss client issues with, or carry messages to, third parties on your client’s behalf. Your loyalty should remain firmly with your client. If necessary, hold all discussions with the entire family in the same room so that client and parents can discuss issues directly with one another.

Most solutions to client relationship problems can be found by exercising a dash of empathy. Putting yourself in their shoes lets you puzzle out a solution that will work for them. If you’re struggling with novice buyers and need funding to carry you through to the sale, contact us.

Be upfront about everything

You will have to deliver both good news and bad news to clients. Both should be delivered in the same fashion: direct and thorough. This is because people want to know the facts; sugar coating things won’t lessen the blow. It will simply serve to agitate and confuse people. This, in turn, diminishes your relationship with a client. Instead, develop a reputation as a “straight shooter” who gets news to clients immediately.

Don’t assume that they know what you do

People don’t like it when they don’t understand something. Even worse, they could start disliking you if they feel as though you’re intentionally talking over their heads. A such, it is critical that you learn how to break down terminology, facts and anything else that is exclusive to the real estate industry into basic layman’s terms. The better you can do this, the more comfortable your clients will feel working with you.

Understand that real estate is not “just business” for many people

When you are trying to broker a home buying or selling deal, you will be working with someone’s current or future home. This is a very personal experience for that client, because they have developed or will develop a very intimate connection with that piece of property. Also keep in mind that real estate deals are often brokered under emotional circumstances (estate stales after a death in the family, sales/deed transfers after a divorce, etc.) You need to be prepared for this, and possibly go beyond the facts and figures of the deal to properly accommodate your client’s unique needs.

Show your clients that the wheels are always turning in your head

If you have a good idea, shoot it to your client. This is an outstanding way to not only show that you are always coming up with better ways to do business, but also that you kept them in mind. This could be anything ranging from thinking of new ways to stage a home to alternative ways to find that dream home.

Listen more than you talk

You are the real estate expert. Your clients are coming to you for that expertise. These facts, however, do not give you a license to tell a client about everything that they need to do before you even understand all of his or her needs. Enhance your client relationship and your ability to do your job by carefully listening to what your client has to say about what they want and how they would like to achieve those goals. This “listen and respond” approach gives you an opportunity to look like an even bigger expert, because you can now make every solution that you offer tailor made for your client.

Be flexible

When thinking of how to build relationships with clients, it is critical to remember that it’s not about what you want. It’s all about them. As such, you may have to give up on a specific approach if a client simply doesn’t like it, no matter how much business sense it makes. Being overly pushy will cause a client to feel uncomfortable working with you.

What are your client relationships like?

You should be constantly nurturing client relationships to enhance your success in the real estate business. To learn more about how to build relationships with clients in real estate, stay tuned to our blog.