Why is it important that we meet sooner rather than later? The answer is different for buyers and sellers.
My team and I meet with clients on a daily basis, and we oftentimes learn that if we would’ve been able to meet with them sooner, the process would’ve been more efficient, the plan would’ve been more rock-solid, and we would’ve been able to help them achieve their goals more efficiently.
This isn’t to say that we don’t do those things when we meet with clients, but when you don’t have a lot of time to put a plan together and execute that plan, you have to compress a lot of things into a small window, and that can get stressful.
For example, I met with a buyer about four months ago who told me they weren’t interested in buying a home until December or January and that they’d rather meet then. I told them it was better to meet sooner than later and suggested we meet in October and put a plan together so that when they were ready to go, I’d be ready to go too. The buyer was adamant on meeting in December, though.
When we met in December, we were both on the same page, but because they were looking to buy a property, their first step had to be to get a pre-approval. When they pulled their credit, they discovered they had three small liens on their credit report that were very old. We now have to spend two or three months cleaning up that buyer’s credit so they can get a high enough credit score to qualify for a loan with a great interest rate. Their goal was to be in a new home by January, but now they’ll have to wait until March, April, or May.
“Reach out to a Realtor sooner rather than later so you understand what you’re getting into.”
I experience the same situation with sellers—I’ll speak to them in September or October and they’ll tell me they don’t want to sell until January. A lot of them assume that when they want to sell their home, all they have to do is meet with a Realtor, put a sign in front of the house, put a lockbox on it, and list it online.
What they don’t realize is every home sells for a different price depending on the agent selling it and what you do to prepare that property for the market—whether that’s staging, painting, decluttering, taking professional photos, etc. There’s so much that goes into the backend of preparing a home for sale that sometimes the process can take three, four, five, or even six weeks.
I went into one of these sellers’ homes last week and noticed there was a lot of furniture in there. I knew if I were to show that home as it was, I would’ve sold it for $10,000 or $15,000 less than what the market value was. If we spent some time decluttering the property, repainting it, making some minor repairs, staging it, and getting professional photos done, that would all take two, three, or four weeks. The seller, therefore, is no longer in a position to sell in January—they’ll have to sell in early-to-mid February.
Whether you’re thinking about buying or selling—whether that’s in one month or one year—you’re better off meeting with an agent soon to understand what your options are. If your home is ready to sell or your credit is flawless, that’s great, but that’s doesn’t happen all the time. A lot of people don’t know what it takes to buy or sell a home, so reach out to a Realtor sooner rather than later so you can understand what you’re getting into.
If you have any questions about the importance of meeting with an agent sooner rather than later or you need help buying or selling a home, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Until them happy selling!
