Selling real estate
As a buyers advocate I am out and about looking at properties on behalf of my customers and meet many real estate salespeople. This week I met a real estate salesperson at a property along with my customer and after our meeting I could not help but ponder what has happened to the art of selling in real estate.
These days salespeople very seldom take buyers to see a property, they meet them at the address or at an open for inspection. I wonder whether they have a back up plan in case the buyer does not like the property being inspected: I doubt it. Anyway he arrives in his shiny BMW and after a cursory introduction takes us through to have a look. What ever happened to building a relationship and qualifying whether this property is suitable for the buyer and whether he can afford it. No such questions were asked.
Within a few minuted I found out (without even asking) that the owner was a friend and how much the vendor had paid for it when he purchased it. Now call me old fashioned, but I thought this was too much information. What is worse is by me knowing what the property had been purchased for would not have helped the seller to achieve the best possible price.
But the final disappointment for me was that when we had completed the inspection and were preparing to leave that we were not even asked whether we had any interest in the property! My training in sales was that you always asked for the business/order or at least asked whether there was any interest and for an opinion on the property. What we had here was an order taker not a salesperson. My mind goes back to 1974 doing a Dale Carnegie sales course and learning in true parrot fashion the steps of a sale. Attention – Interest – Conviction – Desire – Close. Sadly none of these steps were carried out.
On the subject of selling I must use this opportunity to air my favorite mantra “Real estate is for buying, not for selling.”
You might think it is strange that a real estate agent is advising you not to sell. Obviously there are some occasions where it is a must, all I am saying always look to keep your current property when you are thinking of moving.
I would be very happy to advise you on how to achieve this wealth building strategy. Call me!
