I Love the Smell of Looky Loos in the Morning
Over the years, my looky loo radar has been heightened to a fantastic level.
Looky Loo: "A person who seems interested in making a purchase, but whose actual intention is only to browse."
Read the above quote again. The actual intention . . . is only to browse.
The actual intention is not to buy a home.
When consumers want to go browsing, a real estate agent takes a considerable about of time to accommodate this request. There is an appointment to set up in order to actually tour the property, scheduling time in the agent's schedule to accommodate the request, researching the property, driving to/from location, etc.
In my estimation it takes at least 2-hours of invested time to accommodate a request from an unknown buyer, aka a Looky Loo.
As a busy agent who represents Buyer Clients, these 2-hour investments can be a real time suck. As a result, there are a lot of agents who want to "QUALIFY" the buyer with a series of questions:
- Are you working with an agent?
- If I show you the property and you want to pursue the possibilities of owning it . . . how prepared are you to make an offer?
- How will you be buying the property?
This morning I answered a call from someone:
"Hi, I'm calling about your listing."
We've all had these calls.
Looky Loo Alert:
- I'm calling about your listing aka: Only browsing. The unrepresented buyer who wants to get cozy with the listing agent states that. As if "calling about your listing" will delight the listing agent with the dreams of sugar plums and double dips dancing in their heads. My brokerage only offers Buyer Broker representation. My website BuyersAgentPortland.com is quite clear on that.
- I live down the street aka: Only browsing. Perhaps they are curious about pricing, condition. But since they already live down the street, chances are, they're not going to be moving down the street . . . to this property.
- I'm here in town for the weekend aka: Only browsing. If they were serious about buying, they would have had a real estate agent lined up already. It's called RELOCATION and relocation buyers are serious buyers, and don't leave it to chance.
- I have a pre-approval Stating what the agent wants to hear! If a buyer tells me they have been pre-approved, I always ask when the pre-approval was dated. Chances are -- it's stale! Serious buyers don't have 3-month old pre-approvals.
And the Browse Goes On . . .
- I am paying cash.
- My agent is out of town.
- How do I know if I want to buy the place . . . I haven't seen it?
- I'm investing in a rental
- I'm calling for my friend
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