You showed the homes, you got them qualified with a lender you trust and they finally found the home. Now it’s time for you to really shine.
How to present offers.
It is my understanding the NAR says the best practice is to present offers face-to-face. In the Pacific Northwest, that’s not the norm by any means. If that is the the culture in your area, I’m not going to be as much help, but still you will find some help here.
I was talking to a lawyer once and he said, “Real estate is the only field I know of that just drops Contract Bombs. Everyone else talks about what they want and then the contract is really just a formality.” He has a point. I’ve had offers hit my inbox, even my Spam folder, and never hear a word from the agent. “Why haven’t you responded to my offer?!?” is always a fun way to start a working relationship. Hence my first step:
Find out what the other side wants.
You might sit there thinking, “The list price, duh?” Maybe but in the current climate, multiple offers abound. If you think there is any hint that your client might write an offer, talk to the agent BEFORE you show the home. “In case my client likes the house and wants to write an offer, what terms are they looking for? Do they want to close early, occupy after close, etc.?” The best offer meets as many of those subtle needs for the seller as possible. The benefit of doing this ahead of a showing is that the agent won’t get their radar up and tell every other agent they are talking to that there is an offer coming. Don’t let them beat the bushes to put you in a multiple offer situation.
The cleaner the offer, the better.
Every buyer is different but asking for closing costs, long inspection period, having gift funds for down payment, low earnest money, asking for appliances and on and on, these things will look bad. Leave as many of these things out as possible. You would be surprised how hard it can be to get clients to understand how closing costs affect the bottom line, it’s weird.
Presentation time.
Prepare the email with a breakdown. Make it easy for them to see the terms and highlights. You just made their life easier and reduced the anxiety of figuring those things out. Thank them for however they helped you or that it’s such a wonderful listing and how you look forward to working with them. Have the lender give the agent a call right after you do and let the agent know to expect the call.
Best case is to talk to the agent and let them know the offer. There seems to be an unwritten rule that they don’t ask the price except for maybe 30% of the time. This is a personal preference but don’t lay on too thick how easy it is to work with you. That is almost never the case for me after someone says that.
Do not put down the house.
When you come in with a lowball offer, it’s tempting to be defensive. “Here’s my comps idiot! How could you list it for so much? How long have you been in business, a day?” While you hopefully would never say that, you can easily come across that way by pushing comps immediately. It’s better to say, “I know the price is not what your clients were expecting but based on our searching, my clients feel this is the price they want to offer.”
Thinking this is just numbers and business is a huge mistake. Sellers take offers personally and attacking them isn’t the best play. “I can share some comparables if that would help,” is much more graceful and leaves it up to the agent. Understand that the listing agent wants to sell the house. The will sometimes bluff and bluster but it’s just to represent their clients. Get them on your side and help them. There is a likely chance that they have been having a conversation with the client about dropping the price, now you validate what they are thinking though they can’t tell you that.
If you come off as difficult, they are jumping ahead in the process of the transaction. If they give too much here to any bullying, what does the inspection period look like?
Exercise: Create an email template for offers. Make sure your lender is fine making call or find another one that will support you. Practice three calls with a role-playing partner.
Do the work, get the results.
Next Lesson >>