Earlier this week, I rode shot gun with Brandon, one of the newer guys on my team so that I could observe him and make recommendations if need be. Now this guy has been seriously teachable and hungry and he has managed to take my probate leads and closed a good batch within a short period of time. There is, however, a challenge that I have with him and that is his time management skills.
I explained to Brandon that time management is very important to his real estate business and if he doesn’t guard it, he will find it consumed by all the wrong activities. As our day progressed, I pointed out that he had gone to an appointment without qualifying his seller’s real interest or ability to sell. You see in a probate property sale, just like in the rest of the real estate market, sellers believe that their property’s worth is what the house down the street sold for and ignore the fact that said house was fully refurbished and in move in ready condition.
Which is why, in my probate business, I like to know pretty early if the property will be a potential listing or a purchase. I explained to Brandon that if the seller is already realistic, we want to have an offer on hand to get the property under contract. When a seller is out of state, we can usually get the contract done over the phone and email. Brandon learned it is up to him to build rapport and ask qualifying questions so that he can lead the process in the appropriate direction.
Brandon asked me, ” How do we respond when a seller gives an unrealistic high price? Do they really believe that their property is worth that?”
My response to Brandon was,” I kindly ask the seller how they arrived at that price?” If it turns out that its ignorance of the real estate market, then I present them with comparables and the benefit of working with me.
In our sellers case his price was unreasonably high and through our discovery process it became clear that he was told by friends and family that are not in the real estate business what the house was not really worth. We explained that even though these people have good intentions, they’re advice was damaging rather than helpful as they are not in the market place. We talked about what a move in ready property is versus a property that needed rehabbing to bring it up to move in standard. At the end he was very thankful, that we took the time to inform him.
Had Brandon followed the process, he would have come prepared with comparables to show the seller and having a higher likelihood of moving forward. The lack of preparation means having to go back again and delay the ability of getting this property under contract
To your success,
Ernie “Protect Your Time” Vargas
