Working With Your Buyer Broker: Sharing Your New Home Vision

Patricia, thanks for the insightful post!

Patricia, absolutely essential to communicating with our clients is listening, far more than hearing! Nice post!

Pat, When they call buyers "liars", half the time it is because the buyers don't have a clear vision.  Thanks for putting that "nebulous" quality into perspective.  I can't work with "I'll know it when I see it." 

I remember when I was house hunting six years ago with our agent, I had no idea what my vision was.  But I would tell her what turned me off about the homes we saw.  Sitting rooms in bedrooms were a big no-no.  Wasted space.  Eventually, all my dislkes made up a clear picture of what I did want and the second trip out, we found it. 

Pat - I think it is often difficult for folks to articulate what they want, or hope for. So lots of questions and checking in for feedback is critical. And it often seems easier to say what is a turnoff rather than what is part of teh vision. For some it is obvious, for others it is truly an evolution.

Jeff

If possible, visiting their current home can be worth a thousand words that they could never articulate.

Pat,

That is good. Sometimes people tell me their agent did not listen so that is important.

Very often our clients tell us thru their reactions to the homes we show them what they have difficulty articulating.  We need to not just hear them, but to be attuned to what they are saying with their reactions and body language.

Pat - Great points.  Communication needs to be a two way street in order to ever be effective. It would be nice if there was a Realtor designation for mind reading. 

Pat, Excellent advice. I have found that the list of 'must have' and 'not so important' increases after showing a few homes, too.

Pat it is so important to have that all important meeting in the beginning and keep the dialog going during the home showing to get a better understanding of the client's need.  It is not uncommon for clients to end up buying something not fitting the criteria set forth therefore.

Hi Pat,

What you say is so true, and often so difficult with certain buyers. I feel like a talk show host sometimes, but it is certainly necessary to have them articulate those needs and wants.

all the best...

Pat - you are once again correct, since we often choose what we think the client wants - they have to let us know we are correct and be as specific as possible on their wants vs their have-to-haves!!!

Excellent points.  Sometimes we as agents forget to ASK these necessary questions too.

I'd much rather have a buyer who talks and knows their likes/dislikes than one who has nothing to say at all, or agrees and say's they like everything.

Good advice ma'am for all buyers.  They need to have a clear vision of what they want and then be able to state that vision to their agent.

Working for myself, not had to make a career move where I worked for another since 1974, but it can be very stressful for sure.

Hi Pat... I have been down that path with buyers.  I eliminated properties for all the wrong reasons and then they asked "Why didn't you show me that house" when they found the houses I had eliminated on their own!  A definite failure to communicate.

Sometimes buyers don't even know what they want or it changes as they see different options.  It is really important to put yourself in the buyers situation so that your tastes are not influencing the choices.  Many times my clients think I share their taste, but more often, I can just figure out their taste.