Considering A Buyers Assistant?

For twenty-five years on the front lines of real estate sales I realized that controlling the inventory was the key to having a controllable life in real estate. We all know that buyers are necessary ingredients to any transaction but it just seems that buyers need to see properties on days that are more inconvenient than the days sellers want to list! It's probably that, there is a greater reluctance of buyers to sign loyalty agreements than that of sellers. Lastly, you don't have cooperative agents to helping you as much in obtaining that closing when you work with buyers.

Having said that buyers are the necessary ingredients, many top producers have utilized the help of a buyer's assistant who will perform most or all of the duties with the buyer. These duties can start with the initial lead generation, qualification and showing, contract negotiation, closing procedures, and follow-up. It depends on how systemized and hands-off the agent who hires a buyer's assistant wants to be.

Whenever you add another member to your team additional challenges and costs appear. These can be:

1) Compensation challenges.
2) The "who takes the easy transaction" challenge.
3) Loyalty challenges in the long term.
4) Increased overhead challenges.
5) Liability and customer service challenges.
6) Quality challenges.

Certainly anyone who has used my systems understands there are solutions to these challenges, but what if I told you there was another way to completely eliminate a good number of these potential problems of adding more staff!

I understood very early in my career that I could only deliver 125% service to my buyer client if my other buyer clients don't drain my energy first. I was always selective as to who I worked with and therefore would maximize my service to the very "cream" of clients. The challenge came in trying to separate those clients. This process evolved what I call the "HOOP SYSTEM".

Hoop #1: The buyer lead is introduced to me either by an incoming or outgoing telephone call, e-mail, web site submission, direct mail or personal interaction. At this time the following list of questions is asked of the buyer:

BUYERS

WHAT DO I SAY?

The $100 At Close-Magic Questions

Date: _________ Phone: (H): ______________ (W): ________________

Fax: ________________________ E-mail: __________________________

Buyer's Names: __________________________________________________

Address: _______________________________________________________

1. How long have you been looking? ___________________________

2. Are you working with another agent/broker? ___________________

If yes, who? _____________________________________________

3. How many are in your family? _______________________________

4. Do you own now, or are you renting? ________ Rent Amount? _____

5. Must you sell before buying (or complete the lease period before buying?) ________________________________________________

If yes, how long? _________________________________________

6. Have you seen any homes/investment properties that you really liked? _________________________________________________

If yes, why didn't you buy it? ________________________________

7. How soon do you need to move?_____________________________

Why? __________________________________________________

8. If we can find the right property, are you prepared to make a decision now? ___________________________________________

9. What price range have you been considering? $__________________

10. How much has a lender told you that you are qualified for? $________

11. How much cash do you want to use for the purchase? $____________

12. Do you have a budget for monthly payments? ___________________

13. What is the name of the lender that pre-qualified you? _____________

14. How many bedrooms? _________ Sq. Ft.? __________ Units? ______

15. Is there a particular location in the city you prefer? ________________

16. Is there a particular style that you would prefer? __________________

17. Is there anyone else who will be helping you make the decision about buying? _________________________________________________

18. What special requirements do you need in your new property from Walter? _________________________________________________

19. Where are you employed? ___________________________________

20. Where is your spouse employed? ______________________________

21. If Walter gives you 100% of his time will you buy your new property from him? _______________________________________________

22. What times are best for you to look? ___________________________

23. How do you like us to communicate, phone, fax, mail, E-mail or Internet? ________________________________________________

24. I will have Walter call you so that he can go over details of the hunt. What is the best time to have him call you? ______________________

And at what number? ______________________________________

25. What are your favorite Web Sites to view property? _________________ ________________________________________________________

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If they are not cooperative with my questions at this initial contact time I refer them to one of the Realtors® I work with in town for a 30% referral fee.

Hoop #2: If they cooperate with the questions the list is then faxed to my team member lender who performs the pre-qualification process with third party endorsements of my services along the way. Should the buyer not qualify they are put into either a budgeting program or a credit repair program by my lender. If they do qualify we have them enter hoop #3.

Hoop #3: The buyer is then invited to my office for a consultation. We discuss the services that I am going to offer the buyer and the benefits to the buyer should they sign a loyalty agreement (Buyer/Brokerage Agreement) with me. Should they not wish to sign the agreement or we find that we do not work well together then the buyer is once again referred to an agent that I have a relationship with.

Hoop #4: The buyer should agree to my schedule of showings and agree to respond to the submissions I make by way of the communication method they have chosen.

I find that if the buyer can make it through all (4) hoops they are motivated and worthy of the very best service that I can supply. If they don't make it through the hoops they are gently and warmly referred to another real estate agent that may be more of a match to the buyer's needs (usually an agent that will work with less of a commitment than I require)!

The "hoop" system will eliminate as many as 60% to 80% of all of your buyer contacts. They should then be referred to another agent for between 20% and 40% referral fees. These incoming referral fees will be equal to the net profit that you obtained from the use of a buyer's assistant! Many times a buyer's assistant gets paid 40% to 60% of every closing and the agent who hires the buyer's assistant has to pay the entire overhead. This very often equates to the same amount of money that you can receive as a referral fee. Furthermore, your buyer's assistant working does not get all of the easy, fast, fun and what some people in the industry term "slam-dunk" clients. The most profitable of all buyer's clients (slam-dunkers) will automatically flow to the main agent. Your overhead is minimized by this "hoop" system and the loyalty factor developed from any closed transaction always remains with the main agent.

I know there are many who may feel this is a very arbitrary and non-caring method for handling potential buyer clients. However, it is really just the opposite. My systems were born of necessity. I could not handle the servicing of buyers in the manner in which myself would expect to be treated without losing balance to my life. Therefore, this method of determining whom the most motivated are allowed me to give my full attention and caring (125%) to the remaining few. The ones that I was not able to work with were still serviced well and became a profit center to offset additional overhead.

I hope you consider this low overhead attempt to provide an alternative to hiring a buyer's assistant. This has proven to be very profitable when systemized and slowly introduced to your business.

Walter Sanford was one of the top real estate agents in North America for nearly thirty years, and now, he is one of the most requested speakers, trainers, and coaches. He has authored twelve systems and books on checklists, pro-active lead generation, affiliate lead generation, plus others mentioned in this article. You can hire Walter or buy his products by visiting his website for more details at waltersanford.com.