To reverse an informal idiom, it’s probably true that all agents can walk the walk, but can they all talk the talk?
Accompanying clients to view homes for sale (the walk) is the easy part. The ability to understand and be able to convey the many nuances, legal machinations, commission details, price fluctuations, negotiating tactics and more that encompass a real estate transaction? That’s what truly separates the closers from the posers.
Anticipating what may come subject-wise is more than half the battle for agents. Better still is broaching various subjects first, like a teacher would. Most first-time homebuyers likely won’t even know all that much about what to ask, and as Jeffrey Decatur, a broker associate with RE/MAX Capital in Latham, New York, advises, that’s the time to really promote your value proposition.
“The most common topics that come up in discussion with clients now revolve around market conditions, the timing of their purchase decisions and current interest rates,” he says. “There’s a notable interest in understanding whether it’s a favorable time to buy and how external factors might influence property values.
“I have been getting questions about the lawsuits and commissions, but not as many as I thought. People with common sense know we don’t work for free, and expect to pay a fee to be represented. A lot figured the lawsuits were a money grab from attorneys. I tell them all of the expenses I pay even before I talk to them, before printing out an MLS sheet or putting my foot on the gas. When I show them how much it costs me to be in this business, (not tell them), they typically gulp and say, ‘Wow we had no idea.’
“I will also tell them cautionary tales of those who were underrepresented. There are limited service brokers out there. You get what you pay for. Experience is king, and real estate is not the place you want to be stingy. I have seen it cost bargain seekers tens of thousands of dollars.
“After my initial meeting with a buyer, most understand the process and understand my value in that process. The further we get into a transaction, the more that knowledge and experience is demonstrated, the more value you provide, the more trust is established, the easier the transaction becomes.”
Talk is not cheap
One thing is crystal clear: It’s all about the bucks. How much you cost, how much the house costs, how much the mortgage payments will be. The ears of your clients will be taking in every dollar-oriented morsel of information you can provide. Agents everywhere tell the same basic tale of what their convos consist of. Here are a variety of views.
“Interest rates are always a daily conversation with buyers and sellers. I recently had a buyer’s agent terminate a purchase and sale agreement because her buyer was quoted a 15% interest rate on a $3M home. This was their second home, so they expected it to be higher than normal, but it was significantly higher than they expected, so this led to some creative conversations with the buyer’s agent.”–Lisa A. Harris, REALTOR®, RE/MAX Center, Northeast Atlanta
“Mortgage rates and home prices are the hot topics right now. Buyers want to know if now is a good time to buy or if they should wait, and sellers are curious about maximizing their property’s value in this market.” –Josh Jarboe, Principal Broker/Owner, RE/MAX Empire, Mount Washington, Kentucky
“Prices and mortgages are definitely hot topics, especially with the uncertainty of an election year. Most of my clients either don’t know or don’t care about the NAR case, so I haven’t had too many questions about that.” –Melissa Hoff, Broker Associate and Team Leader, The Hoff Group at Compass, Florida
“Each of these things are items we discuss to ensure their understanding of the market. Helping buyers understand interest rates and why interest rates during Covid were unrealistic can help them with the decision-making process when buying a home. Addressing the elephant in the room, the NAR/Burnett case, is necessary to build trust and transparency.” –Rylie Schroeder, Founder, Schroeder & Co. Real Estate, Austin, Houston and San Antonio, Texas
“Surprisingly, very few clients know about the commission lawsuit. Questions that come up most often are about navigating the transaction. And before that, discussions of value and strategies to secure or sell a property. Nuts and bolts.” –Pam Rosser Thistle, REALTOR®, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach, REALTORS®, Philadelphia
“Compensation in regard to the Burnett case. Many are curious (particularly prospective sellers) about how buyer agency compensation is going to work moving forward. I have discussed with them how the lawsuit came to be, what it means for them as consumers and the benefits of buyer agency when it comes to providing the best result possible for selling their home.”–Blake Blahut, Broker Associate & REALTOR®, Realty ONE Group Inspiration, Orlando, Florida
“The most common topics that come up in discussion with clients now revolve around market conditions, the timing of their purchase decisions and current interest rates. There’s a notable interest in understanding whether it’s a favorable time to buy and how external factors might influence property values.”–Danielle Andrews, REALTOR®, Realty ONE Group Next Generation, Tallahassee, Florida
“Currently, the most prevalent topic is will there be a recession. This is different from a few months ago when the buyers and sellers were completely focused on interest rates and guessing the expected date of the first interest-rate reduction. Now sellers want to understand how to time this market more precisely. The sellers that are serious about selling don’t want to catch a falling knife, yet they still want to achieve the same sale price their neighbor sold for two years ago. The buyers are telling themselves that they have all the time in the world to decide because the activity is slow. The interest rates aren’t going down in the next few months. I have shown several buyers recently that just resigned a lease, so they are approximately eight months out from pulling the trigger on a new home. At this point, buyers feel like the Fed has cried wolf too many times and aren’t as affected by an anticipated reduction. The ones that need to move are pulling the trigger, but many have plenty of time.”–Tali Berzak, Broker, Compass, Brooklyn, New York
Decatur sums things up by stressing that it’s equally as important to educate clients about misinformation as it is to furnish information.
“The topic I get the most are questions on third-party aggregators,” he says. “There is a ton of misinformation out there. If you don’t realize that the clickbait, a soundbite or headline are meant to sensationalize information to evoke a reaction in you, you are missing more than half the story. Read the articles all the way to the end.
“My favorite cautionary story is a headline stating that mortgage applications are down 32%. The article went on to sensationalize the negative, higher rates, limited inventory…yada, yada, only to say in the very last sentence that 32% of buyers were paying cash. I keep a lot of these articles and misinformation in a file to show folks. I demonstrate that real estate is hyperlocal, and just because you see something on the internet doesn’t make you a real estate expert—just like WebMD doesn’t make you a doctor. When it comes to real estate, one size does not fit all. You need the local expert.”
