MOTIVATION
Motivation of the Buyer and/or the Seller
Motivation, understanding why your client wants to move. Selling or buying a home is a big deal, an expensive deal, and ensuring your clients have really thought the process through is important.
Motivation, Research, and Strategy, need to be considered before launching into SELL mode.
I am currently researching agents and agencies for a client. My client has indicated that auction is a sales strategy that they would consider and therefore I need to get out and about and look at agents, agencies, and their auctioneers. Some agents will run the listing, and run the auction on the day. An advantage is that they know the buyers and can identify them as likely bidders.
This is not always the case. In many instances, the listing agent (the agent employed by the seller), is the liaison with the seller, however they may not attend every open, and they may not be the one following the buyers up post inspection. Often, this role is given to a junior agent.
Why does this matter? The Seller/Vendor has employed the particular agent for their experience, their skills, their overall knowledge. That they are not attending every open for the full open time, means that the buyers are speaking with a junior agent. The junior agent doesn’t have the experience, the skills, and the overall knowledge of the listing agent.
How do they interact with the buyers as a junior agent? Are they well trained? Do they know the answers to potential questions? How comfortable are they with difficult people? When they follow up the buyers, how skilled with questions are they? It’s more than asking a question, noting the response and moving on to the next question. It’s knowing when one question could lead into another that drills deeper into the buyers motivation to buy and enthusiasm for this property.
THE AUCTION, THE AUCTIONEER, THE AGENT, THE AGENCY
The auction I attended was in a location that I liked, it was sunny, it sat high amongst surrounding homes. The auctioneer was one that I know however I haven’t seen him in action for quite some time. The home was spacious with great sized rooms. The Section 32 had a number of caveats on it, indicating a number of issues however I assume all buyers had checked these out prior.
A good auction. It sold well above the agents expected range of $800,000 to $880,000, was on the market close to the top of the range which is always encouraging and ended up selling for $1,005,000 (yes, an additional $125,000 to the top of the range). Buyers were happy to have finally secured a home, and I assume the owners were also happy.
Did the agent have to work hard for the outcome? No, it flowed smoothly. This is aided when the Reserve is met fairly early on, as buyers know they can secure the home if they keep going and beat out the competition. This can be an indication of the listing agents skill – to educate the seller of a strategy and the seller to agree to the strategy.
I am not sure of the seller’s situation however it would seem they were highly motivated to sell.
MOTIVATION OF THE HOME SELLER
The motivation of each home seller is different, it can be highly personal. Often Sellers are reluctant to share their reason for selling with the agent and I understand this. When you are not completely confident that the agent has your best interests in mind, and what information will they disclose. Buyers might use your motivation to negotiate your price down which is why I don’t disclose your reason for selling. The agent should do their job regardless of your motivation. It is zero business of the buyer or anyone else.
MOTIVATION OF THE BUYER
A buyer also has their own motivation. A job transfer, a change in childrens schooling, a lifestyle change, there are many reasons why buyers move from their current home.
Lifestyle changes fascinate me. The buyer has a dream, a perspective of what their life will look like if they move to an area. Sometimes it works out well for them, and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes the house is not the right house or it’s not in the right location. Research, speaking to people you know in the area, knowing what you want and not being swayed because a home is pretty.
I like to know the back ground of the home – how many times has it sold over a ten year period. What about other homes in the street. if it is a high turnover street then maybe there is a problem, and it’s not the house but the street. What is the average tenure period in the suburb? If a home has sold 3 times within 10 years, and the average tenure in the area is 15.2 then I recommend my clients take a deeper look.
The client, their motivation, their future, the strategy.
