Renovation Costs Drive Short Sale Buyer To New Homes

I recently wrote a column for Inman News about a short sale prospect who kept shopping short sales, but kept complaining about the renovations needed and the related cost. The agents suggested that they ‘at least look at’ new homes because with what they planned to spend and still may have maintenance issues in the future, a new home might be the solution.

They did exactly that, bought a new home, and could not quit thanking the agent for her help.

The agent could have missed this sale altogether, had she not been listening and knew what to do about what she was hearing.

Short sale buyers are finding ‘new homes’ the perfect alternative to short sales that need work.

I am always challenging short sale real estate agent to be attentive to how much money their short sale prospects will have to spend to renovate and/or upgrade the resale, and still not know where the fix-up expenses may end.

The solution is a new home.  It is the perfect option for these types of short sales prospects. Home builders be sure to challenge your cobrokers to be sensitive to this type of scenario. It could mean a sale for both of you.

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Home Builders Need To Treat Real Estate Agents Like Customers

Home builders do everything for real estate agents. They set appointments, sell the location, qualify the buyer, coordinate the mortgage financing, write the contract, set up and accompany the broker’s buyer during the walk through, coordinate the closing, help the buyer move into their new home with instructions to call the builder if they have a problem, then pay a market competitive commission or higher, at closing. They meet every need the broker’s customer has or might have.

Unfortunately, this is not treating the agent like a customer. It is treating them like the children of parents who “gave their child everything and they didn’t appreciate it.” All the while, thinking that they were giving their child the best, when in reality, the child needed more of the parents love and understanding.

Speaking as a broker who has served as the marketing consultant and/or onsite broker of record for more than 50 new homes and condominium communities, builders have done it wrong for years and agents have stayed away in droves. I’m partly to blame.

Why would real estate agents not swarm to a builder who provides all of the above services? There is one simple reason: home builders do not treat real estate brokers as customers. They think they do, but they don’t. If they did treat them as customers they would think in terms of their needs.

And you know what their need is? They need to sell and list resales. Interestingly enough, home builders help them do this very thing and don’t realize it. In fact, this is one of the things onsite agents accuse general agents of doing, as in “They rush through the models and go try to sell them a resale.” It’s what general agents do. They focus on selling any house, not your house.

It usually happens at what I consider to be the most important station in the sales office, the site table.

Who sells ‘location’ better than an on site agent? Who qualifies buyers better, than a new homes consultant?  Who can make a principled home ‘showing’ better than a new homes consultant?

Certainly not general agents. They spend more time in training learning company policy and how to fill out paperwork than learning how to show and sell. Many times the cobroker  has not a clue what is going on in the general location and spends the day showing resales the prospect isn’t going to buy, because the homes don’t meet the needs of the buyer, and the broker does not realize it.

There is an easy, albeit uncomfortable fix for this problem that will drive more new homes sales for the builder and more resales for the agent.

Announcing Free Blog Opportunities For Members Of The New Homes Industry

Effective April 1, we are opening this blog to  members of the new homes industry.  We want to help you generate business.  You will be identified as a guest blogger, your contribution will not be edited, and your opinion does not have to agree with ours. You will be expected to link your blog back to your website and any other place you choose to do so.  This is by invitation only.

We invite new homes sales trainers, market research specialists, home builders, suppliers, sales managers, onsite consultants, new homes cobrokers, title companies, mortgage companies, model merchandisers, architects, and others to contribute.

We want to help you get more business. In return, by linking back to your site we improve our search engine position, plus we get to know a little about each other.

The rules:

1. Keep it around 300 words or so.

2. Videos, ok.

3.  Your blog will be posted without editing.

4. It must related to helping home builders make sales.

5. Blogs will be placed at random times and will be posted within 3 working days of receipt, at blogger’s discretion.

6. One blog per month, with blogger reserving right not to post.

7. Program can be terminated without notice.

We are especially interested in marketing ideas, creative problem solving, market research data, new products, etc.

Email your contribution to David  Fletcher at davidf@newhomesniche.com .

Note: David Fletcher is an Inman News Columnist, and 30-year new homes broker, with a $3 billion sales record.

Inman News Has A New Look And Business Model!

If you are involved on any level in real estate, you may be one of the readers and subscribers to Inman News.  This outstanding real estate news service is arguably the most comprehensive, agent friendly news service on the internet.   For years they have provided access for their thousands of readers to add content to their own websites. Now they are including newsletters, special discounts to their popular technology live seminars, and more.

When I read the credentials of their columnists, I still cannot beleive that I am one of them myself.  Why not check them out, when you get a chance - and check out my columns while you are there.

Customer Experience Trump Customer Service?

I know what you are  thinking. Customer service is everything! Well, no. It’s the second thing.

And for  the record there is nothing new here. Customer experience is nothing more than ‘merchandising’. It’s the experience. It is the reason people pay more for groceries in one store over another. It is how te customer ‘feels’ about being with you or on your web page. The difference, of course, is that they are only a click away from never experiencing your services, ever.

Which leads me back to my point. Without a pleasant customer experience, you will not have the opportunity to provide customer service. For example, if you liked the experience of visiting this website, you will be back. If not, I will never in my lifetime have the opportunity to provide customer service to you, because you will never be a customer.

Real estate Agents Will Make More Sales If They Show Better Qualified Inventory

A stop by a new homes sales office should be at the top of every general agents resale showing schedule for one reason:

It will help the agent sell more resales faster.  Here’s the reason:

The agent will have the opportunity right out of the box, to listen to their prospect answer qualifying questions posed by the on site consultant. This could in turn reveal something the agents must have they that they failed to menition to the general agent. A fence for their pets, a place to park their camper, etc.

If the general agent is about to show the prospects several homes that don’t meet these ‘must haves’ there will be no sale.  What it does is help the agent revise the showing schedule to better meet the prospect’s needs.

It happens more often than you might think.

The Need For Clarity About Preforeclosure Checks In Lieu Of Foreclosure

By now you may have heard about short sale incentives now underway by major lenders. Or not.  Just because you have a short sale, does not mean you quailify for more than the $3,000 location check from the government.

To qualify for bank incentives you must be facing foreclosure. Lenders are offering incentives to those who have been turned down for modification loans. If you have not been turned down for a modification loan, you will not qualify for the ‘Don’t foreclose” incentive. Why? Because  you are not facing foreclosure. It’s that simple.

If things change and you are reading this after the above in no longer in play please let me know, and I will update this information. Until then, this is the way it it.

My Short-Sale Friends

My Short Sale Friends

 by David Fletcher, Founder  New Homes Niche

I have six short-sale friends ,

As inconsistent as can be,

Every time I get a prospect,

They change the rules on me.

There’s Cancel, Closing and Condition

Contract, Price, and, of course ,Commission

Closing is my closest friend, but one I seldom see,

Commission is always nice, but likes to disagree,

Contract can’t  figure out exactly what to say

Condition finds more fault than God on judgment day,

Price is always bragging and trying to prove himself

And Cancel is always sorry,when the deal goes on the shelf.

This short sale thing  is getting old,

but I know what to do.

I’ll  start asking all my buyer prospects 

If they have ever considered “NEW.”

 reprint by permission only

davidf@newhomesniche.com

Resolve Process Issues Before Training

We ran across this reminder on the avidrating.com website and thought it beared  repeating.

“Ongoing training and professional development are integral to long-term success.
However, you can only get the maximum benefit from your educational endeavors
after you have done the important work to improve and refine your corporate culture
and operational effectiveness.

“ Only then can the benefits of training be fully realized.  Many companies make the mistake

of investing in training and program development  before they’ve resolved process issues.”