Why Every Listing Deserves A Loan More Than A Chicken Salad Sandwich

Do you think it would be easier to sell a Toyota by offering your client a chicken salad sandwich? Or by having 3 payment examples already on paper....and a finance person ready to help them?

Recently, I walked into a 1.4 million dollar home being held open by some local Realtors. But there was something missing. Something important. Financing information.

Looking around, I noticed the agents had a perfectly staged open house going on: soft music, platters of those tiny little croissant sandwiches stuffed with chicken salad, and freshly cut flowers scenting the air.

But where, oh where, was the financing flyer?

I wondered if those chicken salad sandwiches were going to help sell the house more than a MATRIX of FINANCING OPTIONS customized to this gorgeous home.

EXCUSES, EXCUSES

When I engaged the Realtors in a conversation, they quickly told me that tired old line I have heard before from LISTING AGENTS: "We don't need a mortgage person to help us. "We only LIST. We don't work with BUYERS".

As if financing has NOTHING to do with marketing real estate.

Inside, I had to laugh a little. Not at the agents. At the fact my past life in the car business continues to haunt me at times like this.

You have probably noticed that cars are always sold by ATTACHING A FINANCING PLAN. Why? Because it works. This is the reason: You need to be able to strike while the iron is HOT. It is the most basic principle of selling that there is.

WHAT THE CLIENT IS REALLY THINKING ABOUT 

If you don't think a genuine prospect walking though your carefully staged open house WANTS to know what the payment would be (at the very minute when the ambiance has moved his spirit), you are FOOLING yourself.

That's ALL he is thinking about.

Now, you have choices. You can let him wander on to the next open house, as the memory of yours fades away quickly.

You can let him fumble around and call his own mortgage broker. Oops, not answering. He leaves a voice mail and leaves your open house.

Or you can HOPE he will call his own Realtor and gush about how much he liked the house and ask HER about payments. You think she'll know how to do this?

Hey, I know! Offer him one of those chicken salad sandwiches!

But none of these will work as well as an old fashioned piece of paper in his hand with a great color picture of the house,  a payment matrix of available financing options, and 2 phone numbers: yours, and the mortgage person's.

Why don't more listing agents consider this a MUST when they market a house?

You want to lead him to this conclusion: "Hey! Here's a way I can own this house! I had no idea rates were this low! I thought you couldn't even GET jumbo financing!"

WIN-WIN-WIN

Financing flyers are not just a sneaky way for mortgage brokers to get more business by being a parasite on your listing. In fact, most mortgage brokers would tell you this: Rarely does a financing flyer land you a loan.

That's okay, and that's not the point.

I will always do my job to promote the listing agent as the person to call. I will always TELL the listing agent I have received the call about the house. And even though I am NOT the real estate agent, I will work to promote the listed property.

Why would I do this? Because it is all a WIN-WIN-WIN. And I never argue with anything when everyone wins.

1. I win: I may get a new client. I enhance my relationship with the Realtor. I can promote my business.
2. The Realtor wins: She gains another way to promote the property and impress the seller, has a better chance of selling the house herself, or at least sparking convesations with potential buyers.
   
3. The clients win: They can have access to current financing rates and programs for the specific house.

We should all take a clue from the Toyota dealership. We may believe that selling a house is more refined than selling a car.

But without financing information that is easily accessible the moment the client is "in the ether" (very tacky car business expression), we are not nearly as progressive.

Written by Janet Guilbault, Mortgage Lending Specialist Based Out of the San Francisco Bay Area