Realtors, are you asking the right questions?

As Realtors, our results are not necessarily from the information that we give,but from the questions that we ask. If it has a stove/ oven in the room, it must be a kitchen. If it has a tub or shower, it must be a bathroom. No need to point this out.

   We need to know how to ask the right questions. The most powerful question in our business is "Why?". Now, I'm not talking about a condescending "Why". I'm talking about a "I'm just curious" why. We learn a lot from our buyer clients this way. Mr. Buyer, you say you don't like this kitchen, why is that? "I prefer a kitchen that is more open to the family room and I like a prep island as opposed to a breakfast bar". Then gues what? You will now show them homes with kitchens that they described. Saves you time and doesn't frustrate the buyer, as they don't see 50 homes that don't interest them.

    The buyer asks "is the refrigerator included with this home?" The Realtor responds, "if it were, would this home interest you?" The buyer responds, "not really, I don't like the floor plan". At this point, then, it doesn't matter about the fridge.

   The Realtor asks, "how many bedrooms do you need?".  Automatically, the buyer says "4". If the buyer is looking at 1600 sq ft homes, he is not going to get 4 bedrooms, so the next question is : "4? Mr. Buyer, why do you need 4 bedrooms? How many children do you have?" The buyer responds "I only have one child, but I need a room for an office and one for Aunt Matillda, who spends the night from Hoboken, every now and then. The Realtor responds: "So, Mr. Buyer, if I found a 3 bedroom with an office, would that work for you?".  You get the picture. The important thing is to start with open questions and end with closed questions. By closed questions, I mean " are you ready to write the offer and make this home yours?" I always use the term "Home",as opposed to "House". Next to the word "Mother", "home" is the most emotional word in the English language. In a previous blog, I stated that every purchase that we make has emotion attached to it. A home has more emotion than most. That is one of the things that make our job important!

     Thanks again for reading my rants. Steve Houck