Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Agents want to help homebuyers find their perfect home. While concessions often need to be made, having answers to a few simple questions about the buyer accomplishes a few important objectives. As the agent, it helps you pinpoint what the buyer thinks he or she wants in a home. This may change as the process moves forward but a simple questionnaire starts the process. It starts the buyer thinking about questions he or she may not have been considering. Overall, the questionnaire will save both you and the buyer time and frustration when you can narrow down the types of houses, neighborhood, and other specifics to closely match what the buyer is looking for.
There is less to a buyer's questionnaire than handing the buyer a six-page document with 28 questions and asking him or her to fill it out. Especially for a first time buyer that may already be intimidated with this major life decision. Asking a bunch of questions that they haven't given much thought to can add to the intimidation. Some people plain don't like dealing with paperwork. Instead of handing them the questionnaire and quietly keeping an eye on them for 15 minutes while they write out answers, keep the process interactive. Bring the form up on your computer and tell them that asking a few questions is going to help you find them the house they are looking for. You ask the questions and type the answers into the form. Besides being more interactive, this allows you to ask clarifying questions when the answers are a little vague.
Here are a few sample questions to keep this short and easy.
There are probably other questions that you want answers to such as preferred school district, shopping convenience, suburban or urban living, etc. Instead of making all of this a formal process, you can include these questions on the form but ask them through casual conversation as your relationship matures. Remember they might not have thought about these so let them know an answer would be fine after they have a chance to think about it. One question you want to ask after showing a couple of houses (or reviewing the MLS with them) is if they think you are on track with the type of home they are looking for?
Please leave a comment if this article was helpful or if you have a question.
Author bio: Brian Kline has been investing in real estate for more than 35 years and writing about real estate investing for seven years. He also draws upon 30 plus years of business experience including 12 years as a manager at Boeing Aircraft Company. Brian currently lives at Lake Cushman, Washington. A vacation destination, a few short miles from a national forest. In the Olympic Mountains with the Pacific Ocean a couple of miles in the opposite direction.
