Becoming a real estate agent means dealing with the fluctuations in the market and guiding your clients through the highs and lows. When the market shifts to a seller’s market, your buyers may become overwhelmed and rely on you to help them through it.

Smiling real estate agent meeting with a young couple.

Make Sure Your Buyer’s Understand the Drawbacks of a Seller’s Market

Buying a home can be stressful enough in normal circumstances. Helping your clients negotiate a seller’s market – especially if they are first time buyers – can be completely overwhelming. When you first meet with your clients, make sure they understand the market and what a seller’s market means. This doesn’t mean you need to discourage them, but becoming a real estate agent means understanding how to communicate well and being truthful. Let your buyers know that they may have to put in several offers before they secure their home, and that they might need to adjust their expectations. Help them understand the combination of low inventory and high demand that creates strong competition. There are plenty of buyers who want what your clients want, and preparing your clients can help set expectations from the start. You want to make sure your client sees you as an asset.

Encourage Your Clients to Be Flexible

Many home buyers go into the process with a strong idea of what they want, and, although that can be a good thing, in a seller’s market make sure your buyers understand the need to be flexible. There are a few ways they can do this.

  • Prioritize the Wish List

Your buyers may have very specific wants on their wish list, from number of bathrooms, to size of the lot, to the neighborhood. In a seller’s market they may need to be flexible, so meet with them to determine the most important wants on their list. Do they want a home in a specific school district? If that’s non-negotiable, they may need to be flexible on the age of the home, the property size, or other features. If a four-bedroom home is the top priority for a growing family, see if they can be flexible with the neighborhood.

  • Look in a Lower Price Range

Your buyers should be pre-approved before they begin home shopping – especially in a seller’s market – and they will know their approximate price range. In a seller’s market homes tend to sell for above the asking price with little to no room for negotiating the list price down. If your clients are willing to look for a home under their price range, they will have the flexibility to offer more than the asking price.

Encourage Your Buyers to Put Together a Strong Offer

Always assume your clients will be competing with other buyers and other offers, so the first offer needs to be strong. To show the seller you are serious, you need to make sure you put together a strong offer from the beginning. In addition to a good financial offer, encourage your buyers to minimize the contingencies and requests. A “clean” offer with a strong number might beat a slightly higher offer filled with contingencies. Try to make a connection with the sellers and put that in with your offer – sellers can be swayed by knowing an offer was made by someone who will love the house as much as they did.

Keep Your Buyers Moving Quickly

Homes can be listed in the morning and have multiple offers by evening in a strong seller’s market. As the expert, you need to make sure your clients understand the importance of moving quickly. Monitor the market constantly for homes that your buyers may like and get them in to see it immediately. In most cases, by the time the weekend rolls around, the house is gone. If your buyers like a house, they may not have a day or two to think about it before putting an offer in. Help them get into the mindset of making decisions quickly. If you’ve done the prep work with them ahead of time, you can get them moving quickly without making them feel stressed or pressured.

Becoming a Real Estate Agent Means Giving Your Clients the Expertise They Need

A first-time buyer can be overwhelmed by a seller’s market. Make sure you guide your buyers and work with them as a partner to help them through this process. Use your network and work your own connections to get your buyers in quickly to see homes that could be a good fit. Your buyers need to be prepared to look and act fast and they need to understand how the negotiation changes with a seller’s market, and it’s your job as the agent to help them.

Being prepared and preparing your clients can help you be the best possible agent for your buyers in a seller’s market. Your clients are relying on a strong agent to help them through the process and help them get the home they want. We’re always looking for talented agents to join our team. Contact Amberwood Real Estate to learn more about available job opportunities.