Part 2 of 2 - Mastering FSBO Preview Appointments

At The Preview Appointment - 

Objective - Gain access, establish a relationship with &  continue to qualify the seller. 

The Tour:  While walking through the property, take notes on the home’s features and benefits.  In a casual, yet deliberate manner, ask questions to determine what the situation is with this particular lead. 

Greeting: Introduce yourself, hand them a business card and thank them for having you over to take a look at the house. (Notice, I say house a lot, not home. Why? Home is emotional, a house is not). Also, assure them you won’t be long which should send a message that you aren’t going to overstay your time and push them into listing w/you. 

Create a casual conversation as you tour the house: Ask we walk through the house, I have a list of questions to ask you, do you mind if I take some notes? (They always will say ok, sure that’s fine)  This allows you to relax, just read your questions and take notes...they gave you permission). 

Remind me, how many bedrooms/bathrooms? Square footage? Lot size? Year built? (get the answering/talking easy common questions) 

Can you point out what you’ve done to improve the property since you’ve owned it? 

So, when you sell the house, where are you moving to? Or You said when you sell the house you’re moving to ___...correct?  (How’d you happen to pick that area?) 

If a buyer was looking to close in 30 days, would that pose any challenges for you? 

Have you been successful selling other houses of yours in the past? I am always curious...what caused you to sell the house yourself vs. hiring a professional, like myself? 

So, how’d you determine your sales price? (sourcing, valid or not) Zillow vs. CMA.

Are you prepared to adjust your price down when working with a buyer? 

I’m sure it won’t happen, if the house didn’t sell, what would you do? Would that be a problem? (must be sure to say this with the right tone of voice) 

You know, this is really a nice property...are you sure you don’t just want to keep it? (giving it back to them tells you about their commitment to sell. Do they go along with it or immediately give it back to you?) 

Before You Go - After gathering the general information, make your way back towards the front door. Before leaving, stop and ask…”Mr. Or Mrs. Seller, I have to ask...I know you’re planning to sell your home by owner.  However, if you actually felt you could sell for more money, a quicker sale with less hassles/liability and meet your timelines by hiring a powerful agent like myself...would you at least be open to considering it?

(find out where they’re at, this will help flush out where they really stand) 

How much time would you take before you would consider hiring someone, like myself for the job of selling your home? (Get a timeline to work towards) Two weeks, 30 days. 

So, just to be sure I am understanding correctly...if you’re not able to (and I am sure you will) sell the house in 30 days, you’d then at least be open to having a meeting to discuss solutions and a fresh approach I can bring to the table to help you get to ___? 

Follow-Up - Well, thank you for having me over to preview your house.  I will keep it in mind and see if any of the buyer leads we have could be a match.  In the meantime, I will check in with you ...say...maybe once every 5-7-10 days to see if you were successful in selling the house. (explain the only way you can keep accurate status of the house is to keep in touch with them. Time frame to f/u based on motivation/mark