One issue that comes up invariably when we are sharing home selling tips with property owners has to do with buyer viewings. Many home owners request to “be present” when potential buyers are looking at the home.
While there are many understandable reasons why a home seller would request this, we make it very clear that they need to be gone during a property showing.
Objections Are A Part Of the Home Selling Process
What many people (who do not sell for a living) don’t understand is that buyer objections are the real start of the selling process. They are an absolutely essential requirement to a successful home sale and without them, we are not likely to sell the home that we are showing.
It’s the introduction of an objection that can spark a flow of information that can help us further qualify a sales opportunity and better understand the needs and current motivation of the home buying prospect. For this reason, we work to embrace and understand the true objections the home buying prospect might be considering.
Home Buyers Are Polite
Like most people, home buying prospects are typically polite people who are not going to purposefully say something rude. If the homeowner is present in the home during the property showing, the home buyer(s) will most likely keep objections quiet, for fear of “insulting” the homeowner. The real estate salesperson will not know about these objections and the home selling process might not even commence.
For this reason, homeowners must vacate the home when a prospective home buyer is present. Let the buyer say things to the REALTOR® like “I think the kitchen is outdated” or “the bedrooms are too small.” These are typical objections and many a home buyer has uttered these very words about the home that they eventually purchased.
Even if the showing is “unannounced,” the seller should hop in the car or take a walk around the neighborhood. Let the buyers roam through the house with their real estate agent and let the objections (and hopefully home selling) begin.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
spot on.
I couldn’t agree more.
The sellers were present during every. single. visit we made to the home we would purchase and it made me crazy. Moreover, they were present during closing! We actually closed together! This might be common practice here in Tally, but I’ve asked around and it is unheard of elsewhere. What business it is of theirs to see what interest rate we received or how much money we were putting down?
Since we were renting the home back to the sellers for the the first month after closing this became VERY uncomfortable because they actually tried to renegotiate terms of the rental with us…and my husband agreed!
Anyway, long story short–I will never do that again and I will insist we be alone (both for viewings, and closing). I knew nothing when we bought our home but I guess you live and learn, right?
Hey Sarah,
What’s it they say … that which does not kill us only makes us stronger…. Sounds like you had one heck of a time.