As a Realtor, I get asked a lot of questions. I am always happy to answer questions, to educate and inform, regardless of the question asked. There are no “bad” questions when it comes to real estate, but in the case of the ”bad” question, I find that most people don’t know how to ask the right question to get the answer that they are truly looking for. There are definitely “good” questions and I often find myself saying “great question” to clients or various people that I meet in the process of doing my job. Good questions are to the point, insightful, topical and highly related to the client, process or specific house.
So suffice it to say, we face a lot of questions day in and day out. Sometimes, the questions we are asked are somewhat veiled, or are asked in a roundabout way so that the person asking the question doesn’t reveal what they are truly looking for or what their motivations might be. To some, real estate is a game and they try to play it to the best of their abilities. In my opinion and experience, being sneaky or coy is never the best way to get what you want. Honesty is the best policy and is in most cases the best way to achieve your goals. (A little misdirection along the way might help as well).
As you may have guessed at this point, a question I and other realtors face a lot is “so, why are they selling the house?” We get this a lot at open houses. We might get this from neighbours. We sometimes get this question from other Realtors. But behind the words “why are they selling” is the real question of “how desperate/motivated are they?”
Because that’s what the person asking the question really wants to know. What is the seller’s specific situation and how might I be able to use it to my advantage. Have they already bought another house? Where are they moving to? Did somebody pass away? Is this a power of sale? They can’t afford the mortgage anymore? Do they hate their neighbours? Did they lose their jobs????? The train rolls on from there.
Obviously, they want to know if the seller is in a situation where they might feel the need or motivation to accept a low ball offer or if they might be able to get something else out of the seller that they want. Depending on how good of an actor the person is asking this question, they might get something useful. Oftentimes, this is just amusing. But the context of this question has changed a lot over the past 12-18 months as the overall market dynamics have changed quite a bit. There might be an actual reason that the seller is selling other than “they chose to”.
Let’s rewind a few years to the fall of 2020. If you can recall, the real estate market was booming after the first shock of the pandemic. Prices were escalating and everyone seemed to want to buy a new house. In a market where home values are increasing and every house has multiple interested buyers, the question of “why are they selling” has no weight. There is no secret to uncover there because no sellers are in desperation mode. Why? Because there were a million people that wanted to buy their house and they had all the leverage. So why did buyers ask? Honestly, I’m not really sure. Maybe they thought or hoped they were going to get some level of insight that other buyers weren’t going to get that would either help them to compete or to walk away from the house.
In 2020, the real answer to that question would probably be “well, they’ve made a choice to change their housing situation, whether that is to upsize, downsize, relocate, start a family, flip houses etc”. It was very rare that a homeowner was in a desperate situation. Now, the real answer to that question very well could be “they bought this house a year ago, took a variable rate mortgage that has nearly doubled and they can no longer make those payments”. That could be the answer, but its not something that a buyer will ever hear from me.
Why? Because our role is to always act in our client’s best interest. To promote those interests throughout the buying or selling process. And in this case, that means getting the most amount of money for their home. How do you accomplish that? It is certainly not by giving away any leverage you may have by sharing the desperate situation your client faces. That’s a big no no but people make this mistake all the time. Otherwise, why would somebody continue to ask? “Why are they selling” can be such a small throwaway question that a realtor might feel comfortable answering in certain circumstances.
So then what is the right way to answer the question of “why are they selling?” The answer is to not answer it. I have said all of these things in the past:
”I can’t discuss my client’s plans”
”I won’t discuss my client’s plans”
”They wanted to move”
And that is basically it. Give away zero information, deflect, apologize, whatever it takes to avoid answering their question. However aggressive they are in asking is usually how aggressive I am in answering. When the market was hot and homes were selling in days, for over list price, I always wondered why people would ask that. But I would always answer “they wanted to move”. Simple as that. Now, I do understand why people are asking this question, because their might be a real reason behind the sale that could impact how the sale goes.
If you truly want to know why somebody is selling a house, get yourself a knowledgeable and hardworking buyer representative because all of the signs will be there. There is a flip side to this coin, and when I am representing a buyer, I will tell them everything I can about the seller, the agent, really anything that might impact them getting a good deal on the house.
Trust me, there are many signs out there that basically answer that question for you. What is the seller’s name? If it includes anything like ”executor” then the seller passed away. If the seller’s name is “public trust company P.O.A” then that house is being sold under power of attorney and the original seller couldn’t make their payments. When did the owner buy the house? How many homes do they own? Is the house vacant? Is it renovated? How long has it been listed for? Have they had other offers that were either not accepted or fell through on a condition? Do the offer remarks say “offers anytime” or do they say “willing to look at any and all offers”?
Those are just a few things that I look for on an MLS listing. Having genuine conversations with the listing agents is another great way to get information, depending on the situation.
Again, this to me just shows why I will never answer that question. Serious buyers already know and everyone else is just curious.
Opmerkingen