I like to be organized, especially with paperwork. My files are neat and orderly and the same system is applied to every single file, no matter if it's a buyer, seller or REO property. But, we had a challenge when it came to our clients. We'd flood them with copies of "stuff" and expect them to figure out how to make sense of it all.
That is, until Melissa Krantz spoke at a RE/MAX convention a few years ago. She brought an example of a Communication Binder that she makes for all her clients. So, we tweaked it a little and now, we love handing a completely organized 3-ring binder to our clients.
We make binders for:
- Sellers Listing Paperwork
- Sellers House Paperwork (stays with the home, for the new buyers to enjoy)
- Buying a Home
- New Construction
- Short Sale Clients Financial Binder
We use the 2" white binders that you can slip in a cover sheet as well as spine titles. Inside, we use the 5-Tab dividers for various sections and my favorite thing we include is the Business Card Page. It's Avery 76009.
We give the binder at the beginning of the transaction. For sellers, it's at the listing appointment. For buyers, it's when we begin searching for houses. Whenever we give them a copy of something, we hole punch it first and remind them to stick it in their binder.
We give sellers a brown, expandable accordian type file to hold the appliance manuals, warranties or receipts that they'll want to give to the new owners. When they're packing to move, they tend to find all kinds of things that the buyers might want, like plant/shrub care tags, service providers they've used, the garbage disposal key and spare house keys/garage door openers.
At closing, there is a place in the binder for closing paperwork or if they prefer the copies on disk, it can slip right into the front pocket.
Clients report that this binder is a hit. We recently listed a house and the seller pulled out his binder from the 2004 purchase.
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