Buyers this spring and summer will have to be nimble and ready to move fast if they want to win, especially in a bidding war. How agents talk to and prepare their buyer clients can make a big difference in whether or not those clients have the knowledge and confidence to make quick, expensive, crucial decisions. Several top agents at this year’s Modern Real Estate Summit offered tips on how to increase buyer clients’ confidence in multiple-offer situations.
Making sure buyers know the numbers is one way to increase buyer clients’ confidence, said Sean Hererro, vice president of mortgage lending at Guaranteed Rate. Tapping into a total cost analysis program allows agents to illustrate to wary buyers exactly what their financing terms will look like.
“Our sellers want confidence,” Hererro said at the April 2021 Modern Real Estate Summit. “We’ve seen them pick cash offers. They’ll pick finance offers over cash. They’ll pick lower-priced offers over higher-priced offers purely based on confidence.”
Herero said eliminating uncertainty with the lender is a big step to helping increase buyer clients’ confidence, as is making sure they know what their cash out of pocket will be, and what increasing their total offer will mean for their monthly payments. He says to work on a script. For example:
“The difference in cash out of pocket is only $1,000, and the monthly payments will be higher by $49. Now if you really love the house, is it worth losing it over $1,000 out of pocket and $49 per month?”
Denise Donoghue, a loan officer at The Mortgage Nerd, explained how using a total mortgage cost analysis to show buyer clients the data increases their confidence in your motivation. Show an on-the-fence buyer, for example, who’s debating on bowing out of the current competitive market, that waiting could cost them more in the long run if values keep appreciating and interests keep rising – both of which are likely.
“Clients know that we have a biased interest in helping them buy now versus later. So sometimes they don’t really believe what we might say,” Donoghue said. “They might be thinking that we’re just trying to collect a paycheck. But when they see the numbers, they understand the logic and are able to make an informed decision.”
Nick Walnder, CEO of The Waldner Winters Team in Maryland, said at the Summit that he’s recently been asked what to say to buyers who worry that they’re overpaying. Waldner said it’s a matter of perspective and making sure the buyer takes a deep look at their own goals.
“What I usually tell people is, ‘The most you’ll pay is $450. If someone else paid $451 and you found that out, would you be upset that you lost it?’ If the answer is yes, maybe we should go a little bit higher,” he said. “And you keep going up until, oh, [you’re] at $465. If someone is paying $466? ‘I don’t want it.’ Great, $465 is our number. So using their motivation to understand what they truly want and helping them attain it.”
