If you own a property and have been in the real estate industry for a long time, you know what happens when you put your house on the market. You are also very well aware of the many ways to sell your house quickly or to buy another one in the same manner. However, things become more challenging with hard-to-read-buyers, so here’s how to tell if a buyer is serious about your offer.
We’ve compiled these signs to help you figure out when a buyer is genuinely interested in your offer. We’ll also tell you about when a buyer is going to bail on the sale for no reason. So, keep reading to gain valuable insights about what’s going on in the mind of a buyer!
A Simple Guide for Property Owners on How to tell if a Buyer is Serious about Your Offer
Have you ever put a house on the market, get a quick offer, but within a few days of the negotiation, the potential buyer disappears or sends you a regretful text. What do you think went wrong? Well, in most of our previous posts, we’ve already elaborated on the fact that the longer the house stays on the market, the more it loses its charm in the buyer’s eyes. So, now when your property goes back on the market, you shouldn’t be surprised if it’s perceived differently by buyers and agents. No matter if you clearly state that the buyer got cold feet, quite naturally, it will make other buyers think that something is wrong with the property.
Now, the question is how to tell if a buyer is serious about your offer? Well, you can easily point out if a potential buyer is showing genuine interest in your house or whether they are just playing along by keeping an eye on these simple cues:
- Some of the Family Members Have not Seen the House
- Asking more Questions than Necessary
- Getting Instantly Connected and Not Wanting to Leave
- Mental Preparation for Moving In and Shifting
Some of the Family Members Haven’t Seen the House
If only one member of a couple is visiting your property and sealing the deal at the same time, you run the risk of the other member not being quite happy with the offer or the property. The same goes for parents or children – if any one of them isn’t particularly happy about a specific feature of the property, they will all probably look for ways to get out of the sale. This particular red flag is not uncommon to see in the property market when one family member is in a hurry to buy the house while the rest of the members are in some other part of the city and cannot visit the property. There might be a lot of pressure on that one particular member of the family, resulting in the buyer backing out.
Asking more Questions than Necessary
We know that the most crucial step in persuading a buyer is to satisfy the questions being asked by them. You can instantly judge their real intent from the type and frequency of the questions. Do not be surprised if a buyer is taking their time to ask questions or asks all of them at once – both signs are warnings.
On the other hand, if a buyer is genuinely interested, they are more likely to ask several questions, particularly about the age of the home, neighbourhood, and even average costs of maintenance.
Getting Instantly Connected and Not Wanting to Leave
This one goes without saying, anytime a buyer gets instantly connected to the property and gets into the detail of everything – it’s a piece of great news for the seller that the buyer is serious about your offer. Additionally, interested buyers will also define as to how the property reminds them of something, or someone close to them. Sometimes the emotions occur immediately, and you might hear them say, “This is the one” or “This house reminds me of my grandmother’s”.
Homeowners can get especially excited if the potential buyers ask for a flexible payment plan and communicate openly about their financial position. You know you have sealed the deal when they request a second visit with their family members or friends and get into the details of the payment.
Mental Preparation for Moving In and Shifting
According to real estate experts, anytime a buyer wants to look a bit more and inspect every corner of the property by walking methodically – it is an indication that the buyer is interested in your offer. In some cases, buyers start mentally moving into the property and let you know if they plan to divide up the room or why a corner room will be great for studying, and how they would change the look of the kitchen in the future.
Some experts also say that they’ve seen genuine and serious buyers getting into serious discussions like where they’re going to settle the children, what room parents will take, and what they can use the extra space for. So, when you spot the buyer mentally planning to move and allocating rooms already, you can expect them to initiate the conversation for making an offer.
Just sometimes, in a few exceptional cases, buyers bail on a sale for genuine reasons. For instance, they are short of funds, or the house needs a lot of improvements, as revealed after the inspection. Anyhow, there’s no surefire way to tell whether a buyer is ready to bolt or ready to drop the deposit, but we’ve already revealed some red flags that you should keep an eye on. Have you ever been in such a situation? Share your experience with us at blog@zameen.com. For more tips and tricks on property sales, subscribe to Zameen Blog. Do not forget to like our Facebook page.
