So many situations when our client asks a question or makes a statement that leaves us frustrated or speechless. In this episode we give some ideas for how to deal with your client when they come to you with these tough questions or situations. Why should I reduce my price? Will you do an open house every weekend? What should I offer in this multiple offer situation? How much does that cost? And on and on. We have answered these questions hundreds of times and are breaking out all of our “secret weapon” words.

The following is a rough transcript provided by Otter.ai.

0:00
I really like here’s my husband’s cell phone. Yeah,

0:03
give him a call. Don’t give him a call. Don’t Don’t do that. Otherwise you’re just gonna owe me a lot of referrals right? Are we gonna Edison?

0:17
Terry Watson cut out everything before that.

0:25
Hi, y’all welcome to hustle humbly. It’s Alyssa and Katie. And we are two top producing realtors in the Baton Rouge market.

0:31
We work for two different companies where we should be competitors. But we have chosen community over competition.

0:36
The goal of our podcasts is to encourage you to find your own way in business. So stop

0:40
comparing yourself and start embracing your strengths. Okay, hello. Hey, Katie. How are you today? Just great. Feel a little disheveled? Honestly. All over the place. But we’re going to do episode number 120. Okay. And this is going to be what to say when

0:57
what to say when? I think this will be good, because you have the finesse?

1:04
Oh, you’re gonna get a word or

1:06
the word? Yes. Like I will say the answer.

1:09
Fine. I love you say it. I’ll critique it and fluff it. No, I’m not going to critique it. But before that,

1:18
yes, dude, we do the flip report. I went by the house and my contractors truck was backed in. And the beams are here.

1:32
Oh my god big beams.

1:34
We kind of went being happy. I love it. So we got one. It was important it is we got one from the living room, we got one to go over the casing into the hallway from the living room. There’s three entrances into the kitchen. All three will have one just beams everywhere, beams all the beams. And then I said we should have gotten beams for the porch. Posts. There’s only two I said maybe we could just wrap it. Wrap them and I said no.

2:05
He’s like, No, I will not.

2:05
He said we need beams.

2:09
I don’t know you’ll get more be charging me for this said beads. I don’t like you got to charge you for. I don’t think they just give out beams for free these.

2:18
You’re right. You’re right. Um, so I don’t know what the cost will be on that. But it’ll be like I have to I have to have them. You do have to have them.

2:27
Okay, fair enough.

2:29
The showers are tile

2:31
I’ve seen I think you’ve

2:32
posted a picture. They look so good. So good. And the kitchen floors are done. Okay. And so I always just thought that, you know, you’d stagger the tile. But Whitney was like, No, you really need to like do it straight. So I was nervous. And it looks amazing. It looks very clean. And I’ve also noticed now I’m noticing when I get it’s like that and a lot of extra Yes. Yeah, it goes around, right. It just makes it look cleaner. Less lines, like less busy, I guess. Love it. So I’m very pleased with that decision. Right? And yes, that is where we are. Fabulous. coming along.

3:11
So happy to hear that. Okay, well, yeah. And the flip report the flip report. Okay, carry on to what to say when

3:18
so we have some frequently asked questions. Yeah, that come up that are sometimes hard to answer. And we’re not and we haven’t practiced to this. I honestly didn’t

3:29
even. So we’re gonna we’re gonna do them on the fly as you would with a client?

3:34
Sure. So maybe I’m sure there could be some better ways to do this look, but this is just to get your wheels turning about what would you say?

3:42
Think about the possibilities, right? Because we’re not script. People know, there are people out there who will tell you to do the scripts and practice them every day and call your friend on the phone and do fake scenarios have never been able to do that. Can’t do it. Yeah, man, you just can’t do it. And look, I’m not saying it doesn’t work. And it’s not practical. And it’s not helpful to like, hone your craft. What I’m saying is I can’t take myself seriously. And I would rather just learn in the wild. So now we’ve learned in the wild, we’re just gonna tell you so you could just repeat after us on the show. Yeah, movie script with us. Wonderful. Okay, um, let’s start with what I think these two are completely people are like, I don’t need that. These are cellar problems that aren’t happening much right now because of the market, but they will and there’ll be the hardest questions you answer. And it says what to say when the seller won’t reduce the price. Okay, Alyssa, what do you say when you know it’s time to reduce the price and the seller is pushing back?

4:45
So when I know it’s time, I kind of just I’ve put it out there. Right. I’ve let them know that hey, based on the market, I always base it off of facts. Yes. So I tried to send them an email. Yeah, with The updated market analysis that just says, Hey, just wanted to let you know, we’re still sitting here at 310. Yeah, the sales are all in the 290s. I still think we need to be at 299. I just wanted to share this updated market analysis with you,

5:14
right? I like to say this, no homes have sold in your price, or like, no new homes have been sold or gone under contract, or they just go back to the data and always the big bad the market. Yeah, the market is saying and here’s the thing, I always say to sellers, I usually say in the beginning, and then I’ll have to repeat it again. In the beginning, I’ll say if they’re pushing me on price from the jump, and I’m like, This is not right. I know it’s not right. But I’m willing to give a little, I’ll say, Look, if you have no showings, then the market is telling you the price is too high. If you have lots of showings and no offers, then the market is telling you the condition is not good. Right? Okay. So a lot of people saw the price saw the house looked at I’m gonna go then they go, no offers, then something’s wrong with the house. Yeah, there’s some sort of obstacle, people are not able to get past. I like that. Okay. But if they don’t come at all, it’s got to be priced. Right? Gotta be your price. So my old broker used to say you have to get two out of three things, right? When you sell your house, location, price and condition. If the location is what it is, it’s great, or it’s bad, what if it’s bad? Well, then you better have the right price. And the best condition. Sure, if the location is great, maybe the condition doesn’t have to be great. But the price still has to be right. Two out of three always have to be right. I really liked that. Love that. And I think it’s a really easy way to explain it to your seller and say, look, we’ve got to get two of these three things, right. Yes, I agree. Your location is the best. But you’re not the you’re not the most updated, or you’re not, you can’t also price it so high and not be the most updated. And it kind of helps them understand.

6:57
I always try to avoid saying in my opinion, no, never. It’s never your opinion market. It’s always based on facts and data based on what I am seeing in the market. Yeah, based on what the market is doing based on the house that just sold down the street. Yes.

7:13
Data. Yes, data. You are a messenger. Not What did you say yesterday,

7:17
we took a continuing education class with Terry Watson. Good. You never want to be the source. Yes. You want to be the source of the source. That’s never the source.

7:29
I know. And that’s not right. And if you ever get a chance to see Terry Watson, who hopefully you’re on the show, yes. Because we certainly harassed him to come on the show. He’s amazing. What a great what a great speaker he is. Okay, next up in the same vein, the seller asked you why the house isn’t selling.

7:48
I think that your answer, just revisit, just revisit that same thing. Why is it my house selling? And going through what you just said about the three? Yeah, there’s three things mister seller, yep. That we can and can’t control? What can we control in this situation? Right. What has the feedback been? How many showings have we had?

8:08
I will also tell you and I don’t know if we’ve discussed this on a previous episode, whenever it gets to this point where the seller is pressing you or you feel like it’s tight. Look, don’t wait for the seller to press you. First of all, be giving a weekly report that it’s not an auto report that it’s you sending an email or phone call something that says, hey, these showings have happened. This has been the feedback just a recap, even though you should have been sending them that as it happened. You know, X house has been listed X house has been sold, no other houses have gone under contract in the last week, you know, this is what I think the other your price might need to be. And if you’re giving them all that data, without them having to push you that’s not going to be such a hard thing to deal with. So just give

8:52
it to them. And I also feel like I get asked this question at the listing appointment. How do you handle price reduction? What do we do if it doesn’t sell? And I always tell them, I don’t have a specific timeframe that I go off of I base it off of are we showing how many showings and what has the feedback been? Yeah, the market has to tell us. They think that’s not about what I think. Yeah. So we’ll just have to see what happens.

9:18
Okay, this one falls in line with our pushy seller. The seller wants an open house every weekend.

9:24
Mr. Seller. Please go. It is not in your best interest to hold the house open every weekend, right? By doing that it takes away the serious buyers that would have to make an appointment with their agent. Whenever somebody makes an appointment with their agent I know who to follow up with. I know that they’re vetted and pre approved. So by having the open house it just lets anybody come why make an appointment. If it’s always open every Sunday, every Sunday, they can just come to this house, right? And it also just kills the momentum that we have in the market and it’s exciting to have one open house Also, if it’s open every Sunday, there is no excitement

10:02
there. Well, people are going to start to think why is this house still here? Right stale? You could wait a month, I think you wait a while before you do an open house.

10:10
I don’t do an open house until four or five weeks in. So

10:13
you could wait a month to do an open house, there’s a chance people will be like, Oh, I’ve not noticed this house before.

10:18
And then I tell them, the open houses are not necessarily to sell the home. Right. But it is to get additional feedback from the public. So if we feel like we’re not getting feedback from our showings, perhaps an open house would help with getting buyers and or lookers in the door to at least let me know what they think needs to be done. Yeah. But I just tried to preface that the open house is likely not going to sell the home. Yeah, but it can’t hurt us. Well, I’ll

10:47
tell you what I tell my seller, it is up to you. But the Open House is open to the public. So if you’re living here, and you’re worried about safety, the open house is the least safe thing we can do. Right? No one has vetted these people, anybody can drive by the sun and roll in and potentially harm me in some way in your home. Do you want that to happen? Right? No. Now, it doesn’t mean I haven’t recommended an open house for some of my clients. But when they’re like, Well, do you do one every weekend? I’ll be like, no, that’s just an effort. That’s more chances for me to be you know, kidnapped right from your home. Yeah. So, okay. Now we’re gonna move on to some buyer ones, okay. Okay. The buyer asked you what to offer in a multiple offer situation.

11:38
And I offer I tell them in a multiple offer situation, we usually do not get to know what the other offers are. And at that point, it becomes what is the house worth to you? It can’t be what is it worth to me, all I can do is show you the data of what the sales have been. And you have to come up with a number on your own right. And I also tell them, Look, if I have to call you and tell you that we lost, you need to be at peace with it. Because you know, you were not willing to go any higher, that was your highest and best and you were at peace with the number that you chose. Right. Right. And they usually understand that they might ask my opinion. I do tell them it goes over asking. Usually,

12:26
we know we cannot try to make a low

12:29
offer in a multiple offer situation. That is just if you if you want the house, right, right. But I do tell them, they have to pick the number because I don’t want the responsibility of we didn’t get the house because of you. Okay,

12:42
great. I also find that I say this a lot, not necessarily in multiple offers. But at some point in the process with any buyer, I say, I don’t care if you buy this house, it doesn’t matter to me, you have to pay for it. You have to live in it. I’m not going to tell you to buy the house, I’m going to help you with data and information to make like a sale and financial decision. But sure if you love the house, we’ve talked about this before, if you love the house, it’s in multiple offers. Is it worth $5,000? Over asked you probably How long are you gonna live there five years? That’s $1,000 a year?

13:16
I do tell them to think about that. Is this a long term home for you, then it doesn’t matter as much. If you overpay, we are still protected by appraisal. It might appraise though, so you can’t go in hoping the appraisal comes in low. And I tell them to listen, I bring up the fact that cancellations are not professional. Right? And it’s probably good. I do tell them I say look, this is a multiple offer situation. I just had this this past weekend with a client where I said listen, they are expecting multiple offers. I don’t want you to make an offer unless you are sure right. And they really weren’t sure. And so they but they were so they made an offer that was lower. And the seller chose us to counter because they liked our terms. We let them pick the clothes day because my people are living with family because we already sold their house. Right? Every we didn’t ask for anything else clean conventional. So what happened? And I said before you take this, I feel like I kind of talked him out of it. But I knew I could just tell from talking to them. It wasn’t the one. I said I only want y’all to take this if it’s the one and they said we don’t think it’s the one we feel like what we offered was

14:38
the best the best and at least they listened to what you told them they did they

14:42
list it was a great, great experience. They listened. They might feel like the prot it helped us through the process. You know, okay,

14:50
I like that. This one is then at let’s just we’re going to take this from two angles. You were in a multiple offer. So you got it You got the house, but there were lots of others. And you bought a house, you’re the buyer’s agent. But there was not a multiple offer situation. And here’s the here’s the what to say when the buyer wants to request every single item on the inspection. Okay, tell me the two ways because it’s not the same. What do you mean? Well, I think I would give different advice. Oh, man, and I’m old iron ore situation. And you Well, yeah, definitely buyer or seller, but let’s just go buyer. If you were in a multiple offer, and you paid over ask, I’m not going to allow you to then also like ticky tack all the way down the inspection to try and because then it feels like entrapment of this, I would never want that done to my seller, right? So I don’t want to come back with my buyer and be like, Yeah, I gave you 15,000 Over asked, but now I’m going to ask you for 15,000 and repairs. Yes. I just think that’s unethical. Agreed. Unless something came up that you really couldn’t tell and priced. Right. And you’re like, oh, shoot, like the actual roof needs to be replaced? But I’m not going to say Oh, well, I mean, you paid over Ask. Ask for everything that’s on the list. Sure. If they’re gonna make a perfect house for you. What do you say?

16:02
Honestly, ever since I had the repair request template, yeah, where I send them the the template that says, Hey, I’ve typed up a draft repair request for you to review. These are the things that would be customary to ask for. But while we are in the house with the Home Inspector, I tell them at the end, okay, here’s what happens. Next, we’re going to get the report, we’re going to look at it right. I would advise asking for money, your closing costs, it just I’ve been in situations where the final walkthrough was messy. Yeah, because things weren’t done the way that maybe you would have done them they’re done. Right, but because the seller is leaving, right, and you’re going to be coming in, so maybe you want to find your own AC person, maybe you want to find your own electrician. Agreed. So I do try to get them money, or maybe just like a mixture. Okay, so like, oh $2,500 In lieu of repairs and seller to clean and service the AC and make sure it’s in working order, right? Something like that a simple combo, right? On the push back with I get pushed bullshit. And we asked for that loose toilet to be extra tight show we asked for that. I just let them know, listen, they don’t have to do any of this. No. So by asking for the important things, it only increases our chances of getting everything

17:23
like don’t you put 10 things on there, but you only care about two, they’re just like you’re asking for too much. And they don’t want to do any when you could have just asked for the two you wanted and been like, this is sort of my walkaway look, right? Like sure I have to have this or not, okay. Also, I always say this. And you think also maybe you have told me this or say this, when you’re leaving the inspection and we’re talking about I’m gonna send you the draft or you’re gonna get the report, we’re going to discuss whatever your system is for that. I always say, we’re going to ask for things that fall into these buckets, systems safety and structure. We’re not going to ask for every piece of rotten wood to be fixed. Every loose toilet like that house is in fine working order with the loose toilet, right? I mean, like one little drip out of the back of the faucet. There’s always that right. Yep, the drip. When it’s on. It’s dripping. And like, it’s not dripping when it’s off. Who cares? Right? Again, so systems structure and safety is another thing that is really easy to help them kind of hone in on what’s important when they’re thinking about that repair request.

18:27
And also reminding them the point of the home inspection is not to make the old house new.

18:31
Oh, that’s a great thing to say.

18:33
It’s just to check for safety. Right and major issues. Yep.

18:37
Okay. I guess do you would just basically give the same advice whether you were paying over price, not over price over list price multiple offer you just say the same? Okay, fine. Hey, Alyssa. Hey, Katie. Guess what? We have updated the email templates. Finally. Hallelujah. They are updated. And there are more of them?

19:00
Yes, we have 10 buyer template, right 15 seller templates, as well as a checklist for when to send all the emails at what point in the transaction?

19:09
Yes. So you don’t have to guess when they go. It’s very specific. This happens now. Then you send this email says here’s what they need to know. Here’s what they need to know right now. Also, there are six attachments that go along with some of the seller side. So like move out checklist and showing prep or all that stuff. So there’s all the information you will ever need to tell your clients in one of these templates.

19:35
Yes, and if you still aren’t sure you can go back and listen to episode 31 where we talk about the importance of the templates and why we use like what are we even doing so we hope that they help you because they have helped us so much immensely. And we have gotten so many wonderful reviews about how they have helped others and so now they are up to date and ready for you

19:54
and you can go read reviews and all the information at email templates. One Oh one.com Mmm, lovely. How easy is that? Great. Okay, y’all enjoy nice. All right, here’s a tricky one buyer asked you, is this a safe area?

20:11
So per licensing law, I am not allowed to comment on crime and safety. I am supposed to refer you to the website, the sheriff’s department website or give him a call. Don’t give him a call. Don’t Don’t do that. Um, but I do tell them that I can only speak based on property value. Yeah. And if an if a subdivision is appreciating, depreciating, I can pull comps from last year to this year, five years ago to this year numbers only. Right? So we can look at is this area appreciating? Or is it depreciating? Right? Is this where you would want to invest?

20:49
And then you can just point them in the direction of the resource website or whatever website it is where they can check crime statistics, or sex offenders or anything that they want to know. You cannot be the source of that information.

21:03
And again, I like to say because of my licensing law, I

21:06
like that wording.

21:08
It’s not me again, I’m not the source. No, I can’t do I’m referencing the source. I’m referencing the Louisiana Real Estate Commission.

21:15
Yeah. And I think that can really quickly fall into the fair housing issues too. And so if people press you, you just tell them that I’m not allowed to answer that question.

21:27
I do tell them if you are worried. And since it’s not something I can give you advice on after you look up statistics, I think it’s very important to drive through neighborhoods you’re not familiar with, yeah, safety? Or do I see myself living here? Right. How did like neighboring properties? Look? Are they taking care of Yeah.

21:45
Are the properties taking care of what are people doing? Are people around at the day? Are they around in the afternoon? Are they around on what’s going on in there?

21:53
I think it’s great to drive by neighborhoods, for sure,

21:56
at different times of day and different but now in the fast market, you know, advise, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with doing extra research during your inspection period. That’s what the inspection period is for. Right? If you wanted to search up a crime stat or a flood zone or a school district, that’s when you’re supposed to do it. Okay. Here’s a great one. The buyer wants to go in your words all over the place, looking at house. Whereas all over the place, and what do you tell them?

22:29
That is a good one to say? I do tell them? Look, we really need to narrow down what’s important to you. I know it depends on the house. Yeah. But we have to understand what is your Where do you work? Where do your kids go to school? Right? What is the plan? What are you looking for? And I tell them to if it’s if it’s an area so I just had a client that was like, hey, Alyssa, I think I want to buy I don’t know if I want to be in Livingston or Central or Baton Rouge or Zachary, you’re like I said, Well, I’m just gonna let you know if it is in like Livingston, depending where it is. I don’t go all those areas because I live so far away. I may not serve you best. I would maybe have to refer you to an agent that works livings. Well, I’m not sure if I want Livingston, it’s just on the radar of possibilities.

23:22
We’re gonna have to get off the radar and like go do the drive by

23:25
Yes. So I tell them, whenever you are not sure of your area, you’re going to be doing a lot more of the legwork. Right before we go look at houses, you’re going to be doing drive bys to make sure because we’re not going to drive 50 minutes away to get there and you say this is too far. Nope. I don’t want to be here.

23:45
Right? Well, that’s something we need to figure out way before we did the showing. Yep.

23:49
Okay. And then also just really filtering the houses that they send you. So if they send you a list of eight houses that they want to go see right, take 10 minutes and pull the addresses, check the property disclosures, check the subdivision Do you know that it’s way overpriced for that subdivision? Right? Do you know that it’s 15 minutes away from his work? Make notes on all the properties and say I made I went through all the ones that you just sent me and I made some notes and I and I you know I like the red, orange and green system.

24:23
Oh right. Yes. Do you have like a spreadsheet going? Well,

24:26
I just reply to their email and as i Okay, as I just highlight the addresses green this one looks good. It’s close to your work. It didn’t flood. i There’s nothing on the property disclosure. It’s a great neighborhood. Orange just like this looks like a great house. It’s priced well it did flood. I don’t know if that matters to you. And then red is like this one’s 15 minutes away from your house and it’s it’s only a three bedroom. You said you needed a four bedroom, right? So I’m kind of self eliminating. Right. And then I ended with saying so here are my notes. Maybe you could drive by some and let me know Which ones are your top pick? Right? You do the drive by and let me know. But also say if they do say you they do have eight houses they want to see, say that’s just what they want to do. Yeah, I tell them, Well, we’re gonna keep it all in an area, right? Like you have to ascertain. So what are your top five? Right? Tell me the top four or five? If it’s not in the top five, it’s not going to be the house. Right? It’s just not know. So I do tell them? Well, because this one is way farther out than the others. We’re going to just have to save it for another day.

25:32
Right? I’ve had to tell people, we we cannot go from this side of town to the like from I can’t go from Prairieville to Zachary. Right? No. Did I do it early in my career? Sure. Yep. I wish I wouldn’t have it right. It’s just and it’s not helpful for them. Because here’s the honest truth. Any buyer truly and honestly doesn’t want to live one hour apart from each other. They either like one or they like the other in our market. I mean, maybe in a rural area in a one hour radius is fine. I don’t know. But here it is a totally different lifestyle. You have different amenities. You have different schools. Yeah, everything is different from one side to the other, like from one parish to the so anyway, I agree with all that you have said there. Okay. What about when a buyer asked? Do you show for sale by owners?

26:24
I sure do. I’ve sold many for sale by owners. Just make sure that anytime you see a sign no matter if it’s another real estate sign or for sale by owner sign you never call the sign never called us out? Always let me be the point of contact to arrange the appointment, get information on the house, and then we’ll go from there. Perfect.

26:44
You know what Terry Watson said yesterday? What say it in 10? Words are less. Less is more. So whenever you’re answering these questions, you don’t have to go on and on and on. Have the thing that you say and you’re used to saying and just like you did just there 10 words or less?

27:00
I sure do. What do you call,

27:03
let me make the call. Never call any signs? I’m happy to call this for you the end?

27:08
I mean, it says no different than any other house. No different. I do sometimes tell them if they are like questioning how it works. That the for sale by owners are trying to save money. So by not hiring a listing agent, they are trying to save money. Usually I have found in my transactions with the for sale by owners, they are more than happy for an agent to bring the buyer right, because then they are saving half the money that they would have spent and now they have a professional handling the paperwork. Yeah. So they are actually hoping that a buyer’s agent will come along. Yeah. So that they only have to pay half because if they don’t sell while they are for sale by owner, they will have to go and pay the full amount. Yeah, and I feel like that lets the buyers know that I’m not hurting them right in the For Sale By Owner situation because they’re worried. Right? Right. Right. They’re worried that if I’m involved, they won’t get the house. Here’s the

28:09
other thing I would like to say about that a lot of these things, you don’t want them to press you you want to address them on the front end, right. Okay. So if you are sending email templates, the your congrats you’re pre approved has buyer roles it addresses for sale by owner, this question will likely never come up because they’ve already read it and they already know what your buyer rules are and that you can handle it. So

28:31
I do have some clients right now that are very specific on a subdivision. Okay. And there’s a lot of like next door Hey, guys, I’m selling my house. No, you know, and she just came to me and she said, she said, Alyssa, what do we do? If there is a house that is just off market? It’s perfect for us and they just don’t want an agent. You’re like whoa, and I said well, I would never get in the way of you right? Buying Your Dream Home. Yeah, if it’s the if it’s the right house, I’m not going to get in the way of that your options would be to buy it without me or option two would be to hire me to guide you through the transaction. This is what that looks like. I understand that that’s not typical in our market. But if it’s something that you feel comfortable doing we could do that route otherwise you’re just going to owe me a lot of referrals right

29:25
I think that’s funny but you know that just triggered something for me there’s a lot of talk we’re not going to get deep into this right now about you know, the way Commission’s are structured and there may come a day in the not so distant future where it isn’t the seller that pays both sides, we’re going to have to learn talking points for our buyers to express to them our value and they’re gonna pay us directly shirts not going is the same principle right? Look you and you don’t they don’t know the difference if you tell them hey, you’re you’re absolutely welcome to use me as your agent In paying my commission, the end you’re

30:02
hiring me for it’s kind of mind blowing that it’s not that way. Is

30:06
he totally mind blowing that it’s not that way. And it’s, it’s just that simple. A lot of buyers probably wouldn’t think twice about you say, well, if you’d like to work together, here’s my buyer’s agreement. This is what the commission structure is, you will pay that at closing, I’m sure if this actually goes down, which I think it will, lenders are going to structure this where they can put it

30:27
in their loan, we’re going to have to I just think had the buyers doing 100% financing. They don’t have money, they

30:34
need representation the most right that the most. So anyway, I just remember that. You can certainly it’s not weird to say, oh, not a problem. If the if it’s an off market listing, and you would like my my representation, you can pay my commission? Sure. It’s easy. Yep. We can work out the number. I mean, look, X percent is better than 0%. Right. So whatever you work out whether it’s market standard or not better than nothing? Sure. Okay. Um, how about this one? Actually, before we move on to that one. Terry also said yesterday, I’m not going to force you to make an offer, but the market will Yes, I like I like that one back on the when they asked you what to do in a multiple offer situation, I’m not going to force you to make an offer, but the market will.

31:26
One of the questions on here is what is the likelihood of a multiple offer situation? If your buyer asks you or your seller? Yeah. What is the likelihood of a multiple offer situation? What do you say? If I have the seller? I tell them, I understand that there’s a lot of buzz out there about it being such a hot market, I tend to be more conservative with setting expectations, because I don’t want to over promise. I think that you have a great house great neighborhood, but it is still very health specific, right? If your house is a two bedroom, or your house is far away, or if your house needs some repairs, or unless you’re just that cookie cutter stamp, perfect price perfect. Everything right? It may or may not happen. I don’t want you to think that there’s something wrong if it doesn’t happen, right. But that’s, of course, what we’re aiming for in the presenting and marketing. The market will tell us when I have the buyers, I tell them depending on their price range. It’s very possible that what you’re looking for other people are looking for, and we’re going to have to act quickly.

32:29
Yeah, I’ll tell it especially if it’s new to the market. If you find something that’s been on the market a couple of weeks, okay, well, maybe not but me. So you never know when those darn multiple offers are gonna happen. Right? But less likely, but on day one or day zero. I mean, if it’s the green house that you’ve been waiting for, you’re not the only one who’s been waiting for it. So I think that’s answers that question. Okay, how about we’re going to do one more on buyers, and then we’re going to have one for sellers. Okay. When the buyer is in the showing, and they say are not enough, but most usually in the showing, well, how much does that cost? Like a make a repair renovate a kitchen? They Oh, well, there’s a shed that needs to be removed in the backyard. There’s something they look at you and they’re like, Well, how much does that cost? Or the other option is, they’re like, well, that’s gonna be $5,000. To paint that bathroom. I’ll be like, Oh, Surely not. Right. Right. What do you say?

33:26
I say it depends. But from my experience, it’s

33:30
hard to say that just learn this one. Right. Hard to say hard to.

33:33
It’s hard. It’s hard to say. But I might throw out a range. No, I think that’s fine. You know, just depending what it is, if I feel comfortable doing that. Yeah, I would also

33:42
say look, we can’t guess what the price of something is. If you want to know the price of a Windows. Here’s some vendors you can call on the phone and ask an average price of a window. Here’s a painter. Here’s, this is what your vendor list is for. Don’t guess don’t not buy the house because you think it’s gonna cause $20,000 to paint a dining room or like they buyers will give out some crazy numbers.

34:06
I do have a funny situation. So I went on a listing appointment recently. The house is not great. He wants top dollar because his neighbor just sold for top dollar. Ah, to be honest, I am surprised the neighbor got with a neighbor guy. Okay, so I’m like, Well, maybe maybe who knows? Who knows this market? I just can’t figure it out. He said, Now listen, the driveway is all busted up. You know, because the tree

34:28
he’s like coming closer. Now. Listen, the driveway is a mess.

34:32
And I said, Well, I don’t think that it really matters. Like you can. I didn’t notice it. We live here in Louisiana. That’s common. It’s very common, especially in this neighborhood. Every driveway has cracks or you know, we have so many trees and what soil it just is what it is. He said I got an estimate on it, to place it and it’s $12,000 and I was like, Oh my gosh, that’s a lot because this house is not an expensive house. He said, but I wanted you to know that. So that if a buyer says, Well, we’re placed in a driveway, it’s gonna be $20,000.

35:07
It’s not it’s up. And I think we’ve talked about this in our staging episode. I feel like or at least my stager used to say this all the time. If when you’re preparing your listing, just like that, and you can’t afford the driveway, at least know the app, get the estimate, right, you got it, you as the seller, get the estimate so that when a buyer does have that objection, you can say, well, it’s X dollars, I would

35:34
have thought eight.

35:36
Well, isn’t that all?

35:38
Said and somebody says it’s going to be 20? Out you say it is not? Is not? It is going to be 12. Great. 12. Thank you.

35:45
Like that was good, too. That really leads right into this. You had a story it says about an interview, where the seller told me he liked my responses more than the other agent who just agreed with everything he had to say yes. Do you remember that? I do

36:03
remember this. So this agent, this. This was a relocation situation where they had to interview had to do three agents. And he was a he was in the car business. He was a super nice guy. But he was definitely interviewing by the book by the book interviewing. Yes. Right. Like he wanted to know list price to sales price, right? Yeah. Yeah, he knew all things, all things. But he said, My wife is interested in having the house staged do stage. Okay. And I just said, I don’t stage with furniture. But I do have accessories to just make the house feel more inviting, you know, welcoming. I think that your furniture that you have is actually great. If there’s some pieces that could stay like your dining table for the dining room. And he was kind of like interesting, you know, the other agents said they would stage is what he told me. And I said, Well, you know, staging does cost 1000s of dollars, right? And I don’t stage with furniture. The times that I have stayed with furniture the seller paid for it. He asked if we could have an open house on the holiday weekend. He thought that would be a great idea. I said, I’m not going to do an open house on the holiday weekend, I have found that those are the slowest weekends for visitor. And he you could tell he said the other agents had they would do it. Like, wow. Well, I wouldn’t I wouldn’t advise that. And I went into my spiel about, you know, it opens the door to the public. I don’t know who to follow up with. Are they pre approved? Are they vetted, he said, I never thought about that. He liked his wife. He goes, she’s not telling us what we want to hear. Thank you. She’s just telling me the truth. He likes me because I like that.

37:50
I like that. He’s like, I like that. I like that. Good job.

37:55
I was like, Oh, I feel like I’m good. That’s like when acacias I don’t win all my interview situation, right. But I feel like I have gotten better at the interview process because of how often I am interviewed

38:10
there. That’s the only way you can get better. But it’s just simply answering the question, honestly. Okay, here’s a great weekend, you’re in the listing. And the seller says, Well, do I have to stay? Or do I have to pack up this clutter? Or do I have to, you know, the seller presses you and what do you say when the seller says, Well, I think the house looks great the way it is.

38:34
I’m just telling you based on what I’m seeing in the market that buyers are giving us a lot of pushback on condition. This is the list that I made with the photographer Yeah, on how the house needs to look to get it to sell. Okay, this is based on my experience with buyers plus the photographer’s experience with photos. And if it’s on this list, we really need to get it done. So your floral drapes and your bedding and your clutter, and your knickknacks they need to go. I also tell them that getting the house ready for the market is stage one of moving and packing, right? If we list and you get an offer, you have 30 days to get out. Get out if you start the process, make your life easier. Foam wrap all your photos and pack all your breakup blades and start the process. So when you get an offer, you’re down to the minimum

39:26
right, there’s a word that I like that I heard and if you feel like your sellers feeling attacked, or really pushing you back on this, you can call it instead of removing clutter that you’re pre packing so like when you say Yeah, well it’s great to pre pack these things so that you don’t have to worry about doing it later and it adds to your you know, checking off your list for the photos or whatever you’re gonna say. I like that. Terry yesterday said clutter eats equity.

39:56
Oh my gosh, I wanted him say that

39:59
below Like real to the point and they’re like, do I have to remove my Yeah, Santa’s Village that I leave up all year long, clutter eats, equity, village, whatever, whatever it is like clutter eats equity. And that is just

40:14
really I wonder what would happen if we started just answering yes or no? Do I have to declare? Yes.

40:21
I’m not gonna lie. I do sometimes do that, depending on how we’re vibing. If they’re just like, well, do I need to pay this red? Bathroom? Yes. Do I need? Yes, yeah, I’m sorry to tell you. Yes. And I also do use this, I’ll say, buyers in our market are expecting your home to be like they’re on an episode of HGTV. So they want to walk in with their toothbrush, they don’t want to walk in and change your stained carpet, they don’t want to walk in and paint your maroon dining room. They don’t want to walk in and fix your, you know, broken, whatever something obvious would be. So I think it helps them to say, Oh, I see it from the buyers perspective, right? I don’t want to do that either. Because most people are moving into another house. Right? So all you have to do is appeal to their buyers sensibilities, and that helps them to prepare as a seller. Okay, what about this one back to the multiple offer situation? What if your buyer asks, Should I write a love letter?

41:24
Well, new studies have come out. The studies say that according to the National Association of Realtors, and fair housing, that they are causing some harm more than good in some situations. Yeah. Because the seller is not supposed to be choosing offers based off of familial status, people race any of those things. So submitting family photos, you’re looking at opening yourself up for a potential lawsuit, right? By writing those letters. If you write that letter, I cannot be the deliverer of the letter. Yeah.

41:59
I think that a lot of times, too. People don’t realize they give away too much information. Yes. Regardless of all that other stuff. Maybe you would, if you write the letter and you’re like, at, we can’t find anything, and this is the best house for us, and we’re gonna live here for our whole life. And then you want to ask for a repair as if a seller is gonna grant you any right. They’re gonna live here forever. I’m not doing I’m a contractor and I can fix up anything in this house. And then you gotta ask for repair. That’s a hard No. Yep, there’s really no, you do that yourself. Okay, so that one’s funny. I also, it makes me think about when I show for sale by owners. Yes. Bless. When you’re when you’re walking in the house, and I’ll just be like, Oh, okay. Have you had a lot of showings? Yes, no. Oh, all right. Have you had any offers? Oh, yeah, we had this one guy offer blah, blah, blah. Oh, yes.

42:51
Tell me, tell me all the things where where

42:53
are you moving? You know, like, all that stuff? You know, I just think it’s funny. What you can get out of a cellar. And that stuff, you can relate to your potential sellers who are considering for sale by owner? Like, there are a lot of things that you might say that you just don’t want to say. Right, right. Like you don’t know what to say and what not to say. Okay, do you have any others that you want to cover? I think those

43:16
were the main things. One that I had highlighted was how often do you find the perfect property on the first day? And I always tell them in that situation, look, I just don’t I’m telling you that I have seen other houses. And I think that this is a good one. If I think it is right, it does check all the boxes. And my fear is that if we pass it up, you’re going to be comparing every other house to this house. Right? So you just need and I tell them to I know this is the first house we’ve walked through. But you’ve been looking online for about six months,

43:50
and you have a very specified search, right? So it’s not like we haven’t done I’ve had to say that lately. Just because you only saw the houses previously online doesn’t mean you haven’t been searching. Like sometimes people think oh, I showed up in person. I like the first house I saw Well, I can’t take I can’t take that one, right. only seen one. I’m like, No, you’ve seen hundreds online, right? You’ve seen the houses, you just haven’t been inside of them. And I think that kind of puts their mind at ease a little bit. Right. Okay, here’s another one. I don’t know how to word this. But what do you say what I do not over this. What do you say when your buyer or seller comes to you with the advice or information that their friend, neighbor, Mom, Dad gave them about their process? sales price is too low. You’re offering too high,

44:44
depending on what what because there are so many different ways to come back to that. Like for example, whenever it’s a parent situation, and they’re critiquing, critiquing the house that has been chosen, I remind the buyer it look the mark It is so different probably than when they bought that they didn’t get to see our other options. Yeah. They don’t realize that the house we’re choosing right is the best option for you right now, because they weren’t here for the process. We’ve been through the process. So we’re familiar. Yeah. They’re giving their opinion based on what they see at the end. Yeah. They don’t know what we had to do to get here.

45:21
Yeah. So I agree. I had a parent one time who came to a showing. And they were like, Ah, well, I mean, this house is like, $200,000. We got and we bought our house. It’s much nicer than this. For like, $60,000. I’m like, what year was that? Like, you know, 30 years ago? I’m like, Would you like to sell the house that you live in now for $60,000? And they’re like, Well, no. And I’m like, that’s a good. That’s exactly what you’re asking for you were telling me you want your kid to go out there and find this miraculous seller who wants to give them a house priced from 30 years ago, right? You don’t want to do that?

46:02
No, it just was so funny. Like, funny. We

46:05
only paid 60,000. I’m like, I know. And I bet you love all that I

46:10
have in your house. Right? Right. Okay,

46:13
I’m trying to see I think that was yeah, that’s all I asked your whole list. The last note was simply to remember that over promising is going to lead to under delivering Yes. So always be honest. If Oh, here’s another thing I want to say what to say when, if a seller or a buyer asked you a question that you do not know the answer to, you can say, Let me think about that. Let me get back to you. Let me look for that information for you. I don’t know right now, please do not make something up. A lot of times be like, Well, what about whatever floods in question or this or that? I’ll just be like, Oh, I don’t have it with me right now. But um, I’ll get that information for you. The buck stops with you and how you say that? Yes. If you seem unsure, and you like, make something up, they’re going to know it. So just say, I don’t know right now, or I’ll find out for you. I say that all the time. I’ll find out for you.

47:11
I think when faced with tough questions, we feel like we have to give the perfect answer. I never, I’m always giving the honest answer. And it is very rarely what they want the answer to be no. So but they appreciate it. They need the truth. You

47:29
they need the truth. And they want you to have an opinion and give them advice. So they want you to say something. If someone asked me Do I need to remove this? You know, shed that’s taking up half of my backyard? I’ll tell them look, there might be a buyer who would prefer to have the grass and there might be a buyer that loves a great big shed or whatever it is, I’d be like, I don’t actually know. But x amount of the buyers might and like we’re just going to take a guess. Right. Sometimes we’re just taking a guess. Yeah. But I think you have to also stay in firmly in your I don’t know, this is my best advice to you. Like, I don’t know. And that’s the same thing with pricing.

48:07
Yes, absolutely. That’s I can hear it. I know, based on these numbers that are all over the place and really having to analyze each individual house, right?

48:17
It could just be differently or so rage and yeah, based on what’s going on in the world anyway. Okay. I think that’s a good group of what to say that’s good. And get some of those snappy responses prepared that you feel comfortable saying even better if they’re humor, there’s some humor to it. Well, clutter eats equity, right? Like if you can laugh as you deliver the message that’s really good. And land. Yeah. So just get prepared for those things. That same thing happens over and over again. Yep. I mean, your buyers are gonna Oh, I don’t want to buy the first house. I saw I’ve

48:50
answered all the questions that we’ve asked today, no less than 10 times each.

48:54
Sometimes 10 times in a month. Right? Right. They happen over and over and over again. And a lot of these things are answered and addressed in the templates, because they come up so often. You just want to tell them on the front end.

49:05
Yep. This is what’s gonna go here it is. Take

49:07
it all now. Okay. Are you ready for attendance? I am, too. lightful. Let me get it for you. Oh, I wasn’t I wasn’t adequately prepared. I feel like I need filler here. Oh, no, I got it. This test is from Michelle. I don’t know. Michelle played in okay. Don’t make me tell you where she is because I don’t know. Okay. Michelle is out in the world. And she wants to toast to her husband. Oh, they just got married in May. He is my number one fan and biggest motivator. He’s the one who told me to try real estate in the first place. Okay, I listen to your podcast. 24/7 either in the car or when I’m cooking, cleaning getting ready for work. He listened to it with me while I have it on sometimes and you guys are great too. Oh my gosh. That’s so funny. I know a big part of my success in real estate so far is because of him. Before I made the switch to traditional, I don’t know what that means. I said I was a little scared because what if I don’t do well, and he just said, why wouldn’t you? Just a simple question, but he said it without hesitation because he believes in me 100% He’s just the best at keeping me motivated and believing in myself. I am very grateful for him. Unfortunately, I don’t know. Michelle’s husband’s name. So here’s to Michelle’s husband years

50:25
Michelle’s husband, Mr. Blaydon. Yes.

50:30
Sounds like a delight. Thank you for encouraging cheerleader for Michelle. That’s wonderful. Okay, cheers you guys your

50:38
goodbye. Thank you so much for tuning in to the hustle humbly podcast. Let us know who we should toast to for the next episode.

50:45
Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at hustle humbly podcast. If you have an episode, topic or question please email us at hustle humbly podcast@gmail.com

50:54
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. See you next week. Bye. This is the goodbye