buyers

The Disappearance of Buyer Agency

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What if?

Seems like it’s at least possible at this point that buyer agency could cease to exist in the next year or two. A lot of people make the majority of their income from working with buyers.

What if there was no more need for buyer agency?1

Maybe the seller could save 2-3%. I’m of the mind that it would mean they’d get less activity on the property, at least until if/when this became the norm. Then, maybe, buyers will have found a more direct way to find the home and then the listing agent would benefit. But even then, if the listing broker can’t represent the buyer (or doesn’t want. to because they’re not incentivized and they’re otherwise just incurring more liability), who helps them negotiate? Even if a seller did have multiple buyers wanting to buy their house, how would those buyers negotiate well on their own behalf without representation? The listing broker can’t do it without establishing Dual Agency (permissable in NH), and I know I wouldn’t want to without money to justify both the work and the risk.

Maybe everyone will just have to hire attorneys on the buyer side.

The prevailing argument of the class-action lawsuits is that sellers had to unjustly pay for buyer agency, and that the fees paid for buyer agency were inflated and that the whole situation was anticompetitive.

From my perspective and that of many people I know, buyer agency was effectively a marketing expense for sellers. Anywhere (formerly Realogy) settled for north of $80m, and ReMax settled for around $55, but NAR, Home Services, and Keller Williams have yet to settle.

If buyer agency continues to diminish, it’s going to make for an interesting world in the real estate industry.

There is already a glut of agents that are picking up one deal here, two deals there. But when you factor in how many of those agents there are (many), it becomes easy to see how they affect the bottom line for everyone else who does this to make a living.

The end-result situation of no buyer agency could potentially be more lucrative for listing agents, even if the double-siding transactions goes away. Listing agents would be more likely to secure representation of the sale of the buyers’ homes and that would yield more business. Having to work both sides of a transaction (even if the buyer is self-represented) means more work overall.

I don’t think the industry is so unsophistocated to let buyer agency fall between the cracks without some company rolling in to disrupt the real estate industry even more with some “solution” to the problem. This could get worse before it gets better though, for people in the industry as well as for the consumer.

It will be interesting to see how things play out. I’m not sure whether articulating a really great buyer agency value proposition is going to cut it for buyer agents. Money talks and bullshit runs the marathon, as Nino Brown said in New Jack City. If buyers have to come out of pocket for $8-$10k on a $400,000 purchase (or $4-6k on a $200,000 purchase), they might decide not to come out of pocket at all.

  1. I think the need is there until something better replaces it, but from the consumer’s perspective, if the seller can save money by not paying out buyer agency and still sell their house, then I think they’re going to see it as unnecessary. It’s up to us to accentuate the value of having buyer agents because of their incentive to bring qualified buyers to the listing in the first place. ↩︎
The Disappearance of Buyer Agency

Cold 3rd Party Leads

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I hate these.

We recently subscribed to Zillow in a small way. The closest actual area with leads available in it is about 30-35 minutes from my home. That’s where we did it.

I know the area okay, but it’s not my backyard. I’ve sold a couple/few houses over there, but there are parts of it I don’t know, and the surrounding towns are even more obscure for me.

That’s not what’s important though. What’s important is the quality of the lead.

I have friends who sell tons of shit and their primary lead source is Zillow. I’m not knocking it for them. But for me? Eh…

So, I got the Zillow call. It’s Saturday, 1:30 in the afternoon. I just finished lunch with my family and we’re literally walking out the door to go for a walk in the woods. Classic Zillow timing.

I try to actually not take the call because I was feeling very invested in spending time with my family and going on this walk.

They connected the lead to me anyway.

I texted the person because I was prompted to, saying that I was out and about, that today would not work, but that I would work on scheduling something when I was with my computer a little later. They said okay. Tomorrow after 2 would work for them.

I’m still reluctant. It’s gotta be tomorrow because it can’t be today, and I have the afternoon saved so my wife can go out with her friend while I stay with the kids. That’s not until 4. If I schedule this for 2, maybe I can get back in time to make it all work.

Zillow’s model is predicated on you being the appointment scheduler—the door opener. It degrades, at least initially, the role of the buyer agent to the most banal of examples of a real estate professional.

Can you tell it hurts my pride?

I get back and schedule the appointment. I reached back out to the buyer. I’d like to connect for a couple minutes on the phone before we show up at the house together.1 They don’t respond.

I wait a while (hours) and then text a question mark. They said something like, “Can’t talk now. Still good for tomorrow at 2?”

I replied that the appointment was scheduled, but that I like to jump on the phone, at least briefly, prior to the appointment so we can cover a few things.2

They didn’t respond.

I texted a while later that if it was easier for them to text, we could do that too. I asked whether they’d be using financing or cash to buy a home if they found one they liked.

Nothing.

I’m very reluctant to drive thirty minutes each way to show a condo anyway, not to mention to a cold lead, not to mention to an ice cold lead I’ve never spoken with, NOT TO MENTION an ice cold lead I’ve never spoken with who can’t seem to see any importance is humoring me with ten minutes on the phone.

Finally, I said that if we were not able to connect briefly to chat—whether via text or call—prior to the appointment, I was going to have to cancel it and I wouldn’t be able to help them.

They immediately texted me that they could talk.

They preferred texting.3 I asked whether this would be the first home they’d seen, or if they’d already been out to see some. They immediately texted and said that their agent was away tomorrow, and that’s why they needed me to show them the home. Their agent will be writing and submitting the offer, he just can’t show the house tomorrow.

Thank God.

I responded by thanking them profusely for telling me that, and telling them that I would be canceling the appointment, could not help them, and that they should ask their agent why if they felt confused.

I sent the email to cancel the Zillow subscription and to notify me when there’s availability closer to our office.

Bah humbug, and it’s not even October yet.

  1. I’ve only done two others in the last month or so. I’ve shown up at the house to meet them, and the listing agent in one case, and had established almost zero rapport prior to the appointment. I was tired of that because of how foreign it was to my process with warm leads. And I’ve always thought that agents who’ve done that when I’ve represented sellers in the past were weak, especially when they show up and the buyer doesn’t. Call me an asshole. It’s just not strong salesmanship or agency. ↩︎
  2. Qualify them so I don’t waste any more of my time. ↩︎
  3. This is also beginning to make me skeptical. I had an experience earlier this year where I listed a piece of raw land for someone who didn’t own it. It pays to be scrupulous with people these days—if it ever didn’t! ↩︎
Cold 3rd Party Leads

Warm Buyer Lead Process

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Most of the buyers that I deal with either find me online or are referred to me by someone I know. That doesn’t mean I’m not interviewing to work with them or that I’m not otherwise on trial.

It usually begins as an email or a form they fill out on my website or sometimes as a text message. Almost never is this a phone call.

I greet them and then I move on to selling the appointment. I’m not selling them a house or anything else. The only thing I’m focused on is selling the appointment. I either want to get face-to-face (ideal, if they’re local) or on the phone.

It’s usually easier to justify the phone call as a first measure. It’s easy to do because I can step them up by selling them on a “quick phone call when it’s convenient for them.” If they’re warm (which all these kinds of leads are), this is rarely met with any resistance.

Once I get them on the phone, I—casually—work through the questions that I want answered. I qualify them. I usually begin by encouraging them to explain their situation to me. 1 Once they’ve finished, I’ll reiterate some of what they’ve said back to them, “You’re living in Virginia with your wife but you’re moving back up and want to begin your home search in the spring. That makes sense,” and then I’ll move into some questions that I have. I’ll usually preface this question-asking by saying something like, “I just have a few questions for my process that I’ll ask you now. Does that sound alright?” Then I’ll move through my qualifying questions. 2

  • What’s the best email for you?
  • How do I spell your last name (if that’s not already known)?
  • You mentioned your (spouse, wife, husband, children, dog, aunt, etc.). Is it just them that’s moving with you? (Identify the decisionmakers)
  • Great. What is/are their name(s)?
  • What do you expect is your budget? 3
  • Are you preapproved?
  • Are you open to speaking to my number 1 mortgage professional (whether they’re preapproved or not, I sell the relationship because he’s excellent at what he does and it makes a big difference in the experience)?
  • What’s your timeframe/when would you like to be settled?
  • What do you expect from someone in my position?
  • Do you have a house to sell?

I don’t robotically go through these questions unless there’s an utter lack of rapport, then sometimes it does feel a bit forced. I go through these questions conversationally with context added in and around them. With the question about what their expectations are, I might begin by saying something like, “You’ve bought a house before/sold a house before,” or, “Maybe you’ve never bought or sold a house before, but maybe you’ve dealt with an attorney or a financial advisor where the person you were interacting with was in a position to help you with an important matter. In situations like that one as well as our situation, what sort of things are important to you or do you expect from the person that’s in my role?”

In this portion, it’s pretty natural to touch on agency and why it’s important to have a relationship with an agent that is on a client level rather than a customer level. Today, the prospect mentioned that it seemed like their agent—when they bought their current home—was only showing them houses that the agent wanted and was less inclined to show them houses they wanted to see. I explained that usually in this situation, which is a common complaint among consumers, the agent was likely trying to steer them toward listings the agent or the agent’s office represented because there was a financial incentive to do so. I went on to explain that this is why it’s important to have a buyer agent who respects the nature of the fiduciary relationship and is out to represent the client and their best interests, not the other way around. This is a useful pre-frame for setting the second appointment/call where you review paperwork and secure the client.

If there’s some rapport, the conversation should flow somewhat smoothly.

Once I get through these, the next step is to sell the appointment/second appointment. 4 I’m working to establish the next steps as I’m concluding my conversation. If they’ve agreed to talk to the lender, I’m explaining that I’ll be sending them an email once we hang up so they’ll have my contact information and I’ll also include the mortgage professional’s contact information. If they’d prefer, I can have the lender reach out directly to them so it’s one less thing they have to think about. 5

The next step from there is to set up a time so we dig further into the agency laws and discuss more about what it looks like to form a representative relationship. At this point, too, we can really dial in the home search criteria and set up an automatic search using the MLS so they can begin seeing properties.

When’s a good time for them? This will either be a phone call or a face-to-face appointment. Depending on the level of rapport, I may insist on the spouse being present. If they’re not local, it’s difficult to justify their driving to meet me at an office or public place for this purpose, especially when we can e-sign everything. If they are local, that’s almost always my approach, but I’m backing off trying to get non-local people to drive to meet me just so we can review the paperwork. The warmest of them will, but I think it’s more of a challenge than most people are willing to bear. So opt for the phone call with one or both and review the client paperwork together to answer questions like you would in person. This is where you secure the client, and that’s the second step in the buyer process.

  • Step 1 – Secure the appointment/call
  • Step 2 – (Secure the second appointment/call so you can…) Secure the client
  1. This will be what their current situation is, who all is involved, etc. ↩︎
  2. I’ll write out these questions in a note in my CRM so I can type them in during the call and just click save. I used to keep them in my Notes app under a folder called Buyer Notes (and Seller Notes). I still will grab quick stuff there as it comes up but the CRM is the ultimate storage place for all things people. ↩︎
  3. Their response will tell you how much they’re aware of their ability to buy. Some people have this very dialed in, others will speak in terms of a monthly payment, and others will take a stab, arbitrarily, at a dollar amount for the house. It’s less about what they say and more about how they say it so you can intuit, in the moment, how to proceed. This question sets up your tonality and approach for the next two questions. ↩︎
  4. If I got the appointment in the first place rather than the call, I’ll go through all these things in person. I’ll almost always have at least a quick call before scheduling the appointment in person. ↩︎
  5. Usually this has appeal to it, assuming they’re open to the conversation with the LO. ↩︎
Warm Buyer Lead Process

Never Judge the Lead

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Here’s how I almost threw away a $1,250,000 lead.

The day before yesterday, I showed a $725,000 house to a buyer I connected with through Zillow.

I’ve primarily done referral-based business for the last three years, with some early help from Zillow and Bold Leads. We recently decided to throw some money at Zillow because we’ve heard from so many people (watched so many people) significantly augment their business with it.

That being said, I don’t love it. I get the value, but the forced intro, the expectation that I’m going to get you your appointment in 45 seconds, the expectation of seeing a home together before meeting in person to talk and form a client relationship — these things all go against the grain of what I’ve done for a while.1

So, I got connected with this guy. He seemed a little terse or timid (couldn’t tell) on the phone, but I hung up, scheduled the appointment with the list broker, called him back to confirm, and sent him a subsequent email with the showing packet.

He doesn’t respond to the email… Alright. Whatever.

The next day, I finish a late-morning listing appointment and head to the general area where I’ll meet this guy.2 I have lunch. Then I called to confirm the appointment.3 He doesn’t answer.

At this point, I’m saying f-it and going for it with the hopes that maybe it will all come together. And if not, I’ll autopsy it and get better with my process — especially around these strange leads I’m not used to.4

I pull up. Nice house, amazing view, excellent plot of land. I’m pulling up the long driveway after driving up the long road, and two cars are in the driveway. A man and a woman (the listing broker is a woman), a late-90s drop-top Mercedes SLK, and a black Chrysler 300. Here goes.

Turns out, the Chrysler is here from the owner, and the SLK is the buyers’, and it’s him and his wife. They’re friendly and pleasant. All is good.

The other agent shows up. She’s a stud that’s been doing it for 100 years. She walks us in around up and down and talks the whole time. Little for me to say other than my little noises affirming what she’s saying and occasionally chiming in.

We finish up, say goodbye to the list broker, and go to depart. He thanks me for my time and getting them in there, shakes my hand, and says take care. The wife shakes my hand and says it was nice to meet me.

What would you think or feel when you got into your car and they were already driving away?

Did they really just want to see the house and are otherwise not interested in anything? Did I not say enough, or did I say something wrong or something that bothered them? Did I seem desperate?

Mind you, the showing was positive. All was good, or as good as one could expect, regarding establishing rapport with people you met in the last thirty minutes. But there was no, “We’re going to think it over,” or, “What do you think?” or, “We’re going to chat and let’s touch base later.” I had to insert something to that end and was met with no affirmation in return other than them saying it was nice to meet me.

So, I’m driving away thinking I just wasted a goddamn afternoon on this. Not to mention money and resources.

Something Brian Moses taught me was to never judge the lead. He hammered that, and I didn’t understand it at first. As time has gone on, I’ve grown to understand it more.

I knew these people just fucking blew me off. Still, I persisted.

Internet, or the lack of it available there, was a concern they mentioned. A large one. The wife works from home, and the husband owns a company and needs to be accessible even when he’s not at work.

Best you can do up there is satellite internet. The listing broker texted me later and said she spoke with a neighbor, and they said they had a high-speed provider. I had the thought of suggesting Starlink as well. So, I put together a simple email explaining that I couldn’t verify the availability of the Internet provider online but that they still may be worth a call. I mentioned, too, that Starlink was another option that appeared to be available, and I included screenshots and links and such.

No reply.

At this point, I expected that he wouldn’t reply to the email. I planned to call him yesterday to follow up on it and get some feedback.

That I did. I called him yesterday afternoon before I left with my family for a weekend getaway. No answer.

I left him a voicemail with something to the effect of, “Hey ________, it’s Sam. Give me a call when you get a second? 603-____-_____. Thanks.”

I expected I wouldn’t hear from him.

As we drove north to Lake Winnipesaukee, I got a call back. Spoke with him and he told me that, while the house was interesting and had beautiful views and a nice lot, it needed too much work. He explained some more about his reasoning and told me to let him know if something came up that checked those boxes or if the price on this one trended downward.

Fuck me, right?

It was fine. Everything was fine. But I about talked myself out of wanting to deal with this guy. I had begun to convince myself that he was just a jerk who didn’t care about wasting my time and didn’t even have the respect to call me (or respond to me) to let me know he wasn’t interested.

I was wrong. Never judge the lead. That’s. a $700,000+ buyer lead and a $500,000+ seller lead. That’s a $1,250,000+/- lead!

And I was about to flush it because I judged the lead. Thanks, Brian.5

  1. I’m trying to be open-minded in the interest of generating new business and leaving no lead source unexploited. ↩︎
  2. My immediate marketplace has next-to-no Zillow availability. So, I bought some in a small city about half an hour from my office. Not a place where I love to work, but the only viable option to experiment with Zillow. ↩︎
  3. This is typically not something I do. I want to show up and have them not be there so I can have a justifiable position of what-the-fuck for when we next talk because it puts me in more of a powerful position in the relationship. Unless they’re very callous (or if they just never respond again), they’re typically apologetic and regretful and experience the burden of reciprocity. In this situation, I didn’t want to drive another 20 minutes farther away and have this guy not even be there. Mainly because the showing was assisted, and I’d be wasting the listing broker’s time as well as my own. ↩︎
  4. This is something I’ve decided to do anyway. I need to qualify these buyers on the phone after I make the appointment. I need to develop a list of qualifying questions and run through that every time. They’re not warm, referral-based leads like I’m used to. To them, I’m the equivalent of a telemarketer, somebody who gets them their real estate showing and unlocks the door. ↩︎
  5. This is not an extreme or unusual example. This happens to me fairly often. Sometimes, people don’t fit into the mold of behavior that I expect them to. I trust this will happen less and less as I gain more experience, but it still gets me. How much money have you lost in commission income from judging the lead? ↩︎
Never Judge the Lead

Don’t Balk. Learn ASAP.

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Today we had a birthday party for my four-year-old daughter. My wife invited a few couples from the community as well as our immediate neighbors and everyone that had young kids brought them. The party was a hoot and we all had fun.

I, of course, am now ready to curl up in a ball with a book for an hour or so before I fall asleep.

Talking with one of the fathers and he asked me how work was going. This is what people do. They ask me how the market is, how work is going. I answer the question, on average, two or three times a day to different people.1

I answered like I would, telling him that the interest rates are higher than they’ve been in more than twenty years, which makes it difficult for people to want to buy. Being that many sellers are also buyers, there’s also a lack of inventory which is compounded with what is already a low-inventory market. So, things are going okay, but they could be better. What homes there are are selling quickly. There are more cash deals than what is typical, and most of the sellers that I’m working with are moving out of state for various reasons.

We somehow got on the topic of assumable mortgages. It was definitely something I brought up. It’s something I’ve been thinking about. Having gotten licensed in 2017, there hasn’t been a big reason to know anything about assumable mortgages. Now, with interest rates being as high as they are relative to how low they were three years ago, I know it’s something I should learn more about to help buyer clients secure loans on the best terms possible.

But, I have yet to learn about them. That is, until after my conversation with this guy when I proceeded to look it up so I’d know what the hell I was talking about.

Don’t talk about real estate things that you don’t fully understand with people. That’s my lesson for today. We talked in and out and all around the notion of an assumable mortgage. I hadn’t grasped the concept fully. It was only partially hatched in my little 2017-licensed brain. No appraisal? Couldn’t be. Has to appraise. Turns out that’s not true. Bank doesn’t give a shit so long as you have the difference between the loan and the sale price in cash. What kind of loans are assumable? Are there certain kinds that frequently are or certain kinds that frequently aren’t?

I knew nothing, other than that the point was to acquire the lower rate. I didn’t know that one then has to come up with a down payment sufficient to cover the difference between the loan amount and the market value/asking price of the property. I didn’t know that government-insured loans are often assumable, that conventional loans rarely are.

I didn’t know. But he asked, and I admitted I didn’t know.2

What’s worse is that I brought it up. I initiated it. I looked uninformed, professionally, which makes it appear that I’m not fully able to represent my clients. That’s true to some degree. This is something I should know about, like I said.

I don’t want to get myself into situations where I don’t know things that I should know professionally. Not going to win me any points with the public. So, I learned, and I’ll learn more. I’ll begin to use this for my clients, when possible. I will ask my sellers about the nature of their loans and will research this more effectively in my pre-listing process.

  • If the thought comes that I should know something because it will make me more valuable professionally, I shouldn’t balk. Learn it asap.
  • Don’t unnecessarily put myself into positions where I don’t have the answers that relate to my profession.
  • When these things happen, autopsy the situation, see where I went wrong, correct course, and don’t make the same mistake twice.
  1. It pays to have a canned response to this. It’s not something I’ve mastered. I usually make the mistake of being transparent and telling them how the market actually is or how work is actually going. Maybe that’s me being authentic, or maybe I’m missing opportunities to be a clever real estate salesperson. ↩︎
  2. This is a sign of progress. The new-agent version of Sam would have tried to bullshit his way through it instead of just admitting that he didn’t know and exercising even the smallest display of humility. ↩︎
Don’t Balk. Learn ASAP.

Things will be golden…

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Days like this happen. I have buyer clients interested in a listing of mine that’s for sale off-market. They were hot and all over it when I showed it to them Wednesday, but they’re exploring working with a lender who’s a family friend—meeting with him on Thursday.

The meeting happened, and there was some issue, they said, but they expected to know more Friday, or Monday morning at the latest. I texted Friday morning. No response. Saturday. No response. Again this morning, asking if I should instead call.

They finally responded saying that it was a difficult weekend and that they’ve not heard back yet…. I asked what the issue is. Is the lender not getting back to them? No response. Not my lender. There’s none of this with my lender, and it’s questionable whether this is true even with their lender.

What else? Another new buyer client who’s planning to relocate to this area next year replied to an email about a property in a terse way, explaining that they’re not interested in making a move yet, “as you know”. They specifically inquired about this property and told me to let them know about any others that came to the market.

What else? My assistant sent the wrong signed addendum — one that I was withholding for negotiations — to the lender and the title rep. This is on another deal for a listing I have. That was yesterday. Today, I got the right addendum back, signed, and was excited to have gotten a more favorable closing date for my clients, despite the confusion and mistakes made. The title rep, not an hour later, emails “breaking news” about the HOA contacting her about two compliance issues with the exterior of the unit that need to be resolved before closing. No problem.

She also mentioned that the mortgage payoff can’t be acquired before our newly established closing date because the lender takes two days to “input” payoff requests and five business days to process them. Closing will necessarily be delayed after I jumped through hoops of fire to get it shortened. These sellers already sold the home once and had a buyer walk at the final walk-through. There are other familial and legal issues that are further aggravating the sale. A doozy indeed.

New buyers I was referred were preparing to make an offer on a property today. I spent time on the phone last night (Sunday) and again today working through the details. I coordinated with my colleague who represents the listing. Got everything prepped. The buyer let me know that the buyer’s wife “talked herself out of this one” such that they would like me to instead set up a search for “my part of the state” so that I can make some “$$” if I end up “finding them something”.

I don’t say all this to complain (yes I do, but that’s only part of the point). I write it all out to illustrate that these days happen. It happens to be a Monday. For me, oftentimes, these things don’t happen in isolation. They happen in bunches like this. I get the shit kicked out of me, proverbially speaking.

But what’s important to remember is that these things are just that—things. They’re circumstances that are outside of my control. What’s inside my control? My responses to all these situations. I don’t respond to them all perfectly and diplomatically. I might have a little bit of unprofessional snark with the title rep who inadvertently sounded the alarms on something with her “breaking news” comment that added insult to injury in an already tumultuous and difficult transaction. I asked follow-up questions to each of the buyers who flaked in various ways within hours of each other — almost as though they were all conspiring against me!

But the important thing for me to remember is that this is part of the deal. I have days when the stars align and everything goes my way. I have days when it goes the other way. And, fortunately, I mostly have days that are somewhere in the middle. It’s all material. It’s all part of the job. It’s all part of life.

If I can take it easy on myself and not delude myself into thinking that these apparent negative results are a consequence of my actions or inactions — that they’re indications of my worth both as a professional and as a person — I’ll be okay. Take the punches as they come, and grab the opportunities when they come too.

It’s a difficult business to be in. It’s an even more difficult business to stay in. Keeping our heads on our shoulders is more than half the battle sometimes. Just make it through this day. One day at a time. Survive. When they quit and go get a “real” job, you take care of yourself, take a breather if you need to, and come back and do your work.

It’ll boomerang back and things will be golden.

Things will be golden…

Keeping in touch

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You never know who your next customer is going to be. We meet people from all walks of life doing real estate. Furthermore, we frequently encounter people we peripherally know from the place we live who end up working with us.

It’s not uncommon to have a direct buyer call when we have a house for sale. That’s one of the many benefits of having listings. A buyer called me on a listing I had several months ago. I sold this house, not to them, and made it a point to keep in touch.

They were somewhat far away and were a bit wishy-washy about whether they wanted to buy or rent, and if they were going to buy, whether it would be near them or near me. I don’t do much in the way of rentals, but I happened to get a house rental to market that I did as a favor to someone in order to build the relationship. The house loosely fit what they were looking for. So, I reached out to them and just let them know that it was available. Turns out they were out of the country on vacation and couldn’t see it. I offered to do a virtual tour, but they weren’t totally into it. Fine. I leased it to someone else and moved on.

Fast forward another month or two and I’m interviewing for a listing in the same neighborhood as the listing I had earlier in the year. Turns out, this seller really likes the idea of selling off-market rather than going through the hubbub of bringing it to market. They have a work-related situation and they’d rather not have to explain the move prematurely.

I won the listing. Part of what won me the listing was being able to honestly say that I had at least one, and more like three, interested buyers who might be a fit. If they happen to be, this would solve the sellers’ problem and allow them to sell it privately without having to list it publicly for sale. There is the added bonus that it could be a direct buyer and I would double-side the sale. That’s $500,000 @ 6% vs. 3.5%. Not a trivial difference in terms of commission if it all went that way.

Today I brought that buyer through the house. This was our first time meeting in person. It was a good showing and a good meeting. Established good rapport with their family. Very positive. They first called in March. It’ll be September 1st in a few days. They may buy this house, or they may not.

In either case, I’m creating opportunity. We’re so fortunate in real estate because there is so much potential for opportunity. We sell a service that is consumed by a significant portion of the population everywhere. Consequently, there is an abundance of opportunity for business hiding everywhere you look.

I wonder about how many deals I didn’t close because I didn’t keep in touch with everyone that I met. I know it’s a massive number.

The importance of a functional CRM—that we actually use—can’t be overstated, in my opinion, and it’s something I could do a lot better with. But I do keep simple lists of people so I can glance at them and see everyone that’s currently relevant in terms of now business and who I should be touching.

Leads | Active | Contract | Closing | Closed | Let Go | Lost/Didn’t Keep in Touch

I have these categories on a KanBan-style board in Trello like the photo below. When they change stages, I just drag them to the appropriate card (column).

This basic tool is simple enough that I do it pretty consistently. I can glance at this while I’m driving (I’m not perfect), or easily add someone to it from my phone after a meeting. On my desktop in my office, it’s a pinned tab that’s usually always one click away.

I used to keep this same format on a whiteboard in my office. I’d look at it every time I looked up. It’s a practice I may return to again. I’ve found that this is an area where redundancy can be really useful.

Don’t let them slip away. The money is definitely in the follow-up. I just closed buyers (who were also sellers) I’ve been talking to for over two years. I have buyers currently who just emailed me about the listing described in this post that I’ve been talking to since 2019! Keep at ’em.

Keeping in touch