Ask Jeff: The Final Decision

I got a great question from Facebook recently. A salesperson who had made a lot of progress with his buyers was having trouble getting the final purchase decision made. I wanted to share our exchange because I was really impressed the salesperson’s commitment to maximize his effectiveness.

A couple came in on Saturday and right away I could tell the wife was going to be the one I needed to get over the fence. They both agreed we found the perfect house, the perfect lot, very limited availability, and their financing seemed doable. Perfect fit right? Well when I tried to close them at the end the wife had some deep seeded preconceived thoughts about having to have $20000 to put down on a house. She seemed to think the 0 down VA loan that her husband qualifies for was too good to be true. I gave her all of the contact information of our preferred lender and encouraged her to ask questions. She agreed to me calling her during the week to follow up. I couldn’t help but to think I could have done more to have finally ended this couples two year new home search based on a false preconceived notion of a giant down payment needed. What is the void in my actions?

I love the way you’re thinking this through. We should all be theorists about how to maximize our performance. There is one thing I’m missing in this scenario that makes it difficult to render an opinion: Why are they moving in the first place? I say this because the single greatest factor in influencing a move is not interest rates or low down payment…or even finding the perfect home. The greatest motivating force to make a move is DISSATISFACTION. That is, the greater the dissatisfaction in their current situation the more they HAVE to move. I’m wondering if she isn’t feel some pull of comfort in her current surroundings??? Tell me more about why they are moving in the first place.

They are currently renting and have been for years. They are dissatisfied with throwing away the rent money each month. Also they have 4 children and not enough bedrooms for everyone or storage space. They really seem genuine when they tell me that they are ready to be homeowners, I just couldn’t comfort them enough to make the decision today.

And sometimes that will happen – it’s a scary moment, so dont beat yourself up. I would suggest that you offer a timeline of when they should make a decision. “I know this is a lot to digest. Tell you what – I’ll give you tonight to sleep on it and I’ll call you first thing tomorrow to see what you decided.” It’s actually a favor to a customer to give them a time frame – it allows for more constructive conversations. You’re close – hang in there!!!!