It's All About Who???

             3 Tips For Working With Buyers

•1)      Listen to your buyers - When we relocated to Ohio there were several things that I knew I wanted in a house - One was a grocery store, mall and restaurants within 5-10 minutes of our home. Not really a hard request to fulfill in Central Ohio. However, our agent kept showing us houses that were either 20 minutes from a grocery store, didn't have restaurants nearby or were quite a ways from any shopping. Whenever I told him that this wouldn't work for our lifestyle, he kept telling me our lifestyle would change. We wouldn't go to the grocery store everyday, so we shouldn't worry that it was so far away. Skip forward to the present, five years later, I live in a house near 3 grocery stores, a mall and multiple restaurants. I take advantage of all of them at least once a week. Bottom line, the buyer's lifestyle might not be yours but don't discount it.

•2)       Realize that you are a service provider - The buyer is the client - It isn't all about you - It amazes me how many blogs I've seen that take the position that it's all about the agent. There are blogs that talk about the terrible buyer that brings their children to meeting or showing. Other blogs talk about buyers who want to do showings around their, the buyer's schedule. While I'm not advocating giving in to a multitude of unreasonable demands, the old adage - "the customer is always right" seems quite appropriate here. If you are a buyer's agent - you work for the buyer! If they want to bring their children to a meeting, that is their right. If you don't want to work under those condition, fine, but realize who the customer is.

•3)      Be willing to provide references - Reference checks are a common occurrence these days. If we check references before hiring a child care provider, renting an apartment or hiring an employee, why is a buyer's request to check references met with such resistance? Buying a house may be the largest expenditure someone makes, why as an agent, wouldn't you want your clients to be a comfortable as possible with your skills. If your past clients were happy with your services, it doesn't seem like it would be out of line to put them in contact with prospective clients to discuss the experience. I would never hire an employee who didn't provide references that I could verify, I can't imagine hiring someone to help with what might be my largest purchase without a reference check.

•4)      The Alternative - Don't work with buyers.