6 Ways to Spot a Serious Home Buyer
Before you get excited about a home buyer giving you an offer, you need to find out if the buyer is serious or just playing around to impress you. Selling a home can be a cumbersome process. Therefore, don’t be too excited when a potential buyer pops up. They may just view your house and have no intentions of buying it.
So, how do you know that the buyer is not serious? Below are some of the major signs to look out for:
- Have they worked or are they working with a Realtor?
The first sign to look out for is whether the buyer has a Realtor or not. A research carried out by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) indicated that almost 87% of home buyers received assistance from a real estate agent or broker in buying a home. Therefore, if the buyer is solo, then this is not a good gesture. A person who is not dedicated to engaging with the professionals in the field might not be serious about buying a home at the moment.
- Do they have financing in place?
Another way of spotting a serious buyer is by finding out if they have their financing in place. For instance, if the buyer intends to purchase the house through a mortgage, then they should have a mortgage pre-approval. This means that the buyer has already planned how they will purchase the house. The pre-approval letter may be attached to the offer letter.
- What kind of questions are they asking?
Is the buyer asking about property taxes, heating & cooling systems, maintenance, foundation issues, and other financial details such as discounts being offered? These are signs that the buyer is very interested and wants to buy the house and that’s why he or she is concerned about the finer details of the house.
- How long have they been searching for a house?
Is this their first home to view or have they been searching for days or even weeks? If the buyer has just started searching for a house, then there is a high chance that they won’t close the deal soon. Many buyers look and compare different homes before making a final decision. So, if it’s a first-timer, then you shouldn’t expect a quick decision. But if it’s a person who has been shopping for weeks or even months, then there is a good chance that they may buy your home. Engage buyers to know if they’ve been searching or if this is their first or second home to view.
- Does their offer look legitimate?
A serious buyer will provide a very reasonable offer while others will provide an unreasonable offer. Also, if the buyer is not ready to negotiate and they stick to their first offer without giving any valid reasons, then he/she is probably not serious about closing the deal.
- Is the buyer keen on closing the deal?
Once the seller accepts the offer but the buyer feels reluctant to close the deal, then this might be a sign that they are not interested or want to shortchange the deal. Also, some buyers might start looking for defects on the house or they become nitpicky. This could be an indication that they are no longer interested.
With these signs, you can easily detect a buyer who is not serious and treat them as interested buyers and not actual buyers. As a result, you won’t end up wasting too much of your time trying to convince them to buy your home. You can direct this energy and more time to serious buyers who are ready and willing to close the deal.