Will the REAL Buyer Please Step Forward?

Will the real buyer please step forward?

When we meet with buyers, get to know them and their needs for the home they are looking for, it is important to find out who will be making the final decision about the purchase.  Usually it is the person who you have talked with and he/she has made the decision to use you as their REALTOR. In some circumstaces, this is just not the case.

Finding this out can be a hard lesson while you are showing potential homes to the buyer. Based on his/her wants and needs for a house, you show these potential homes to your client. All the while this other person "helping" him/her look at the homes is knocking everything about the home.  When your client likes a home and the "helper" talks them out of it, some additional fact finding needs to be done.

As hard as it is, we need to find out from our client who the real buyer/decision maker is. Then we need to find out what the real buyer/decision maker's expectations are for the home on top of the clients wants/needs.  Their input will obviously be very important and will eventually make your job easier. 

In learning the hard way, the question of who will be helping to make the final decision on a home has been added to my client interview checksheet.