You Don’t Have to Write Tons of Offers to Get One

Tired of writing 20 offers to get one accepted? The problem is not with your client’s type of loan, or the amount or even their terms. If you have to write an excessive amount of offers to get one accepted the problem is with your skill sets.

I know I’m not going to win a lot of friends with this article. I hear it all day long: Yes, of course I have a wonderful initial Buyer’s Consultation! Yes, I write a very strong, clean offer! Yes, I am managing my clients’ expectations—they are just frustrated with the market and how long it takes to get a house…

Sorry. If you are really doing these things, to match what is going on this market right now, you would not be writing more than five offers to get a deal on. If these are your results, you are not doing as good of a job as you think you are. Even with an FHA or VA buyer. Even with your cash offers.

Let’s be clear about one thing, if you are working with an investor who is determined to steal a property, and the only thing that matters are the numbers and they don’t care what the inside of the house looks like until you get an offer accepted, you could be writing more than five offers. Even in this scenario you should be coaching your investor on his strategy to steal. More on separating true investors from the wanna-be’s in a future article.

So how do you get one of your first offers accepted? First, ONLY work with motivated buyers. DO NOT write offers for clients that just want to “try” an offer to see what happens. We already know what will happen. It is your job to tell them. Tell your clients true stories about what it takes to get a property here in Las Vegas right now. Tell them not to listen to the media, or their bartender or hairdresser. Listen to you, the expert—the one that is working in the trenches 50 to 60 hours per week. Show them all of the facts, the data. Show them the current market condition reports. Show them the MLS statistics. Show them a lot of comps, and not just what is going on in the subdivision where the house they like most is. Show them what the true competition is. Compare everything they are looking at. There are several other buyers out there right now with their same criteria. Let them hear your calls to the listing agents when they are telling you how many offers are on a property. If their loan amount is at a competitive price point lower the sales price of the homes you are looking at. For example, if their loan amount is $150,000, look at homes listed for $120,000 to $130,000. Know your inventory. Make sure you are clear about what is critical to your buyers in a property. Maybe what they want is a little further away where there is less competition. Make friends with reputable vendors that can tell you the true cost and timelines of minor rehab like carpet and paint. Door-knock in areas where your client has found the perfect house. You’d be surprised at who may be willing to sell. Call, write letters, whatever it takes. You’ll end up with more business.

Do everything you can to make the listing agent’s job as easy as possible. Send over impeccably clean offers. Send a complete package. Read all of the agent to agent remarks twice. Make sure you are giving them everything they need. Send a short cover letter outlining your offer. Give the seller, with your buyer’s permission, some background on your buyer. Explain to the listing agent how committed they are to closing on their listing. Many of the listing agents with REO accounts are only able to fill in an online portal or spreadsheet with the terms of your offer. The banks are not looking at the whole package yet so make it easy for the listing agent to find everything they need to fill in the blanks. Well rated listing agents have some pull and often make suggestions to the banks about which offer to accept. Stand out. The banks do not always listen to the listing agents the first time around when there is a strong cash offer on the table however the next offer is often the one that sticks because so many of the cash offers fall out. Be their next best option. Many of the cash buyers don’t have the same commitment level that your traditional owner-occupied buyers have and the listing agents and banks are figuring this out. Explain all of this to your buyers along the way.

Be brutally honest with your clients in your initial Buyer Presentation. If they can’t stomach what you tell them they are not going to be able to hang on and get through an escrow with you. If they truly want to buy a home and they see the value of purchasing at these historically low prices they are going to have to get their mindset right. You can get them there. You are the CEO of your company. You have to set the boundaries. It’s better to spend some time up front to get to their motivation than to waste hours and hours driving people around, writing offer after offer until after 10pm, and then watching them walk after the inspection because they got cold feet or their Uncle told them they didn’t like the place.

Stop letting your clients control your schedule and your business. Have the Fierce Conversations. Stop worrying about whether or not your clients are going to like you. (Of course they’ll like you! You’re educated, ethical and service oriented!) Earn their loyalty and their trust with your actions. Get them the result they want and they’ll respect you and love you and send you referrals. Most agents out there are only telling people what they want to hear because they are too scared of losing a client and yet they aren’t closing any deals. They are working another job because they are too scared to tell the truth. That’s not you. There is an abundance of buyers out there. Be the most professional agent they know.

This is a great time to be in the best business there is. We all have to work extra hard right now. So what? That’s not our story any more. Get your unfair share.

 

Coach Dana Whittaker
702.300.7653
www.DanaWhittaker.com