Showing Homes To Unqualified Buyers

Maria - I am "one of those" too.  You spelled it out perfectly, nothing for me to add.  Thanks for sharing.

Maria: One of the first things I learned in my entry years in real estate was"How to 'qualify' a buyer". This was the most important rule of the business at that time for me because it taught me how to avoid "time wasters", one of which is the unqualified buyer!!!

Now, I hear horror stories because the management teams in most offices today do not even teach the techniques you must use to identify the person you are responsible for taking into a vulnerable property!...another low blow to this profession! Do you relaize how this makes us ALL look? We have to be the polished professionals that  the public expects us to be. QUALIFYING BUYERS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS WE DO---Otherwise, who needs us???

Maria - BRAVO!!!  For what's it's worth, I'm "one of those" too!  Not being "one of those" is just stupid and irresponsible.

Maria, It is better to have the serious buyers.  It's a tough market and you have to be more focused on the buyers that will get preapproved before shopping.

This is an awesome article!  Suggested!

Well said, Maria!

   No Pre-Approval Letter or Proof of Funds Letter = No Showing.

I just wrote a blog about this too!  I have never taken someone out w/o the pre-approval.  I am trying to start bringing them into the office now too... just to gain confidence on the commitment level

Maria, it looks like you are in good company with the rest of "those" agents.  Very nice article.

Maria, I had my 3.5MM buyers get qualified right away, now when making offers they stand ahead of the pack,

It's been quite a few years now since I left real estate sales - and the town where I live is always 5 or 10 years behind the times. So...

Back then, nobody qualified anybody. They wanted to see a house, we showed them a house. There was just ONE agent in a community comprised of two small towns who insisted on pre-qualifying her buyer before she showed them anything. The other agents laughed at her.

Interstingly, she's also the agent who eventually went to prison for murdering her son-in-law, but I doubt that had anything to do with anything.

Anyway... I think if pre-qualification had been the accepted practice back then, a whole lot of us would have been more productive - simply because we wouldn't have been wasting our time with "buyers" who couldn't buy.

Hmmm... I should get in touch with some current agent and find out if things have changed. We just might still be operating in the 90's mode.

Maria, what I want to know is why isn't this post featured yet.  I want to be as helpful as possible to my clients and one of the best things I can do for them is show them the importance of getting prequalified.

Maria -- great article about this important topic.  How can you show them appropriate houses if you don't know what they can afford?  Even the HGTV shows about hunting for houses have the potential buyers pre-qualified, and keep them from seeing houses too far outside their price point.

Maria, when you first get your real license, you could use some experience, but after years in the business, not good business showing before they are qualified!