It never fails to amaze me , even after being in this business for almost eight years now, how some buyers just cannot make the commitment to complete the process that they initiated, when they hired you to find them a home. We all know that purchasing a home is one of the biggest investment decision that most individuals will ever make in their lifetime. It is not a task that should be done hastily and without proper knowledge and guidance from a qualified professional. It therefore is quite puzzling to me, how some clients will consistently ignore the advice that their realtor provide them with, and end up making bad choices, or even better yet NO CHOICE (which in fact is still a choice, but i digress...)!!
I have been working with this first-time buyer couple, who were referred to me by a past client, for two years now (with time off over the fall/winter period). We're now in our second year of searching for homes in a market where finding the type of home that they've described to me (and i've gotten them pre-approved for), is certainly not an impossible task. We've lost out on two or three good homes during this time period, simply because of their proclivity to slow decision making. They seem to be quite content to have me show them homes that meet most of their criterias, then decide that they would like to "Think about it & get back to me later...". Now, having dealt with similar situations during my years in the real estate business, i always try to ask the question, "What is it that you need to think about? Maybe i could help you". In any event, i usually accomodate this decision, because i want them to feel comfortable that they're not being rushed to make any quick decisions.
Well, what do you Know? Without fail, every single time that they've done this they've lost the house!! Not surprisingly, Right?? Not only that, they seem pretty OK with that!! So now, i've started to question their commitment to finding a home based on our discussions that we had when we first started this process. I haven't seen enough out of them to conviince me that they really want the homes in the inventory that we've been looking at. The enthusiasm is just not there!!...and to prove my point, on our latest outing they've asked me to enquire about "builders Inventory Homes" that they've seen on some signs while on our way to one of the recent showings. So, being the accomodating agent that i am, i enquired and found out that they do have homes available, but the builders were not co-operating. I relayed this message to them, advising them that i have no problem with them buying a builder's home, but i expect to be compensated for the two year's time that i've spent showing them resale homes. Well, the resale house that they were THINKING of putting an offer on this weekend, but had to THINK ABOUT IT, they're no longer interested, and as per his TEXT message that i just recieved, "Until further notice we will not be looking at homes for sale"...!!
Well i never did....Maybe i should have seen this coming, or as my wife asked me when i mentioned the challenge i was having with these buyers, "So when are you gonna Fire them and move on to the next client?"
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