I Will Meet Anyone Once

Bad Advice

• I will only show a property after the buyer has been pre-approved.
• I will only show properties in a certain price point, or above a certain price.

Follow this logic and mindset:

EVERYONE gets one free slice of pizza (one free meeting).

The most lucrative chain of transactions that I can remember in my career came from a 'bad' listing (no such thing because listings drive buyers and drive exposure.

Here are my two favorite personal stories:

• Zillow lead inquires on a lot- one phone call, one meeting.
  • They write an offer.  $60,000 lot- $1,500 commission
  • 1 month later, they buy the lot next to it. $1,500 commission
  • 1 year later, they buy the $1.1mm house across the street from the two lots. $25,000 commission
  • 6 months later, they decide they don't like the house and buy a $750k house
  • 2 months later, they list their $1.1mm house.  And then list both of their lots
  • The Gross Commission:  $80,000+
• A listing walks in through our front door at EXIT.  Was previously listed by another brokerage
  • The home needed TLC and was somewhat beat up.  
  • We listed it and we were still $30,000 overpriced
  • I put the listing on Facebook Marketplace
    • A buyer looked at the house.  Decided not to purchase
    • But bought a $400k home
    • Listed their $260k split foyer
    • Hosted an open house- picked up a couple that were getting married.  They purchased a $300k home
    • Sold one of their homes for $150k
    • That couple then divorced within 6 months— sold the home for $330k
    • One of them purchased a $200k home
    • The first buyer- referred their parents to me one year later.  Purchased a $500k and sold a $300k.
    • All from a listing that most everyone thought was overpriced.  Oh, and it sold eventually.
  • Moral of the story.........Don't judge a book by it's cover

Examples of when you should almost always meet someone:

• Someone contacts you or the office and wants to see a property
• Someone is coming to town to decide if they want to move to Dubuque
• Someone is visiting Dubuque area to interview for a job and they’d like to see a few homes while they’re here or meet an agent
• Someone has accepted a job in and wants to see homes that they might purchase.
• Someone isn’t sure if they want to sell their home and would like to know what your opinion of value is.
• Etc, etc, etc…

In each of these instances, you have the opportunity to meet someone who has a likelihood of becoming a client. The key is to invest the right amount of time with each person and to approach each person in the correct way. A few examples:

• 90% of the people you talk to either through your SOI or through company lead generation will be able to be pre-approved.
• When you meet someone at a property (or at a coffee shop in order to go to the property), they are now interviewing you as an agent. Ask the right questions with the goal of getting them set up on searches. Worry about pre-approval later.
• If someone is visiting Dubuque on a “scouting trip”, then you need to limit how much time you’ll spend with them. You can also ask more questions about employment over the phone, so you’ll have a good idea about qualifications. Recommend that you spend a half day with them physically viewing homes and suggest that they drive neighborhoods and visit restaurants on their own. If they do decide to move to Dubuque area or accept a job, there will be a subsequent trip where you can really pound the pavement to view tons of homes.
• If someone is definitely moving to Dubuque area, then it makes sense to recommend pre-approval before they come. They can’t make an offer without a letter, and the goal is to make an offer on this trip, so they should agree that it makes sense. When someone comes to Dubuque with the stated goal of putting a house under contract, you will spend as much time as necessary with them. Generally, you can view 2-3 homes per hour. They will know a day or two prior to the visit how many homes they want to see. If they’re in town for 2+ days, then try to break it up into multiple half days so that they can spend time exploring areas.
• Any time someone expresses any interest in selling a house, you want to meet them at the house whenever they would like. There is no reason not to go on that interview. I have personally met the same sellers at their late mother’s house 4x over 5 years and will continue to do so until they decide to sell.

Buyer Pre-Approval

It’s obviously important for your buyers to get pre-approved with a trusted mortgage lender. The point above is only that you need to focus on establishing a “trusted advisor” relationship with someone before you start giving them trusted advice.

You need to be able to explain to a buyer why it’s in their best interest to get pre-approved. Here are some good scripts (that are great advice):

• Buyers who are winning offers are: pre-approved and have met their agent
• It’s super helpful for you to talk with a lender early. Your lender will be able to tell you how much you’ll need to put down and how much your monthly payments are.
• It’s one thing to know that a house is $XXX,XXX. It’s much more helpful to know “I need to put down $XX,XXX in order to have $XXXX per month in payments.”
• The market moves pretty quickly, so it’s nice to have your pre-approval out of the way. That way, if you do luck out and find something you love early on, there isn’t an obstacle to making an offer.
• There’s no obligation to work with the first lender you talk to. I always recommend that you get pre-approved with a local lender first and then shop later. If you start shopping now, the lender is just guessing on rates b/c they always change.

Exceptions

As in (almost) everything, there are exceptions to this. Your personal safety is obviously your #1 priority. Because we deal with the general public, you will sometimes run into individuals who may not be in your best interest to work with (extensive criminal record, violent history/ past). You can determine that someone is insane by searching them online, FOREWARN, or by using your gut instinct

Personal Safety

Set your own personal safety guidelines. If you’ve never met someone before, it often makes sense to meet them at a coffee shop and then follow each other to the house.  If you don’t have a policy, talk w/ other agents or me. Set your own policy and always follow it. Fair Housing will not allow us to set different policies for different people, and that’s a great fallback if anyone ever questions your policy.

Your Spidey Sense

When you talk with people, you will sometimes get a weird feeling. They make comments that don’t make sense. They brag about money and you can’t find them online. Over time, your spidey sense will get better and better. However, always trust your spidey sense. Early in your career, err on the side of always (safely) meeting anyone once. As your spidey sense matures, you can begin limiting the amount of time that you’ll spend with people who seem “off”, or not meeting them at all if the alarm bells are really going off.