When your buyer finds a house online and sends it to you before you’ve had a chance to see it, don’t worry. It’s going to happen.
Buyers spend plenty of time looking at homes themselves. They may be checking listings during lunch, scrolling through properties at night, or getting alerts from several different websites.
Instead of looking at those messages as a problem, use them. Every property a buyer sends you tells you a little more about what they’re looking for.
Start With the MLS
Before you tell the buyer anything about the property, pull it up yourself.
Check the current status, listing details, showing instructions, property history, and anything else you need to know before discussing it with them.
The buyer may have found the home on a website they check every day, but you’re the one helping them through the transaction. Take a few minutes to look into the property before you start making plans.
You may find something in the listing that answers the buyer’s question right away.
Ask What Caught Their Attention
If your buyer keeps sending you properties that don’t match the search you’ve been working with, don’t immediately dismiss them.
Ask why they sent the home; something as simple as “What did you like about this one?” can tell you a lot.
Maybe it’s the kitchen. Maybe they like the neighborhood more than they expected. They could be willing to accept a smaller home because the backyard is exactly what they’ve been looking for.
Their answer may show you that their priorities have changed.
Don’t Worry About Who Found It First
You don’t need to be the first person to spot every new listing, but your value to the buyer goes beyond sending them a link to a house.
You’re helping them understand the property, schedule showings, look at what’s happening in the market, prepare an offer when they’re ready, work through the contract, and get from the home search to closing.
If your buyer happens to find a property before you do, take a look and keep moving.
Compare It With What You’ve Already Seen
Sometimes a buyer sends you a property because something about it feels different from the homes you’ve been touring. Use that as a comparison.
You could ask, “What do you like about this one that we haven’t been finding in the other homes?”
Maybe the answer is something you can add to the search. If they keep sending homes with larger lots, perhaps lot size matters more than you originally thought. If every property is in the same area outside the neighborhood you started with, it may be time to talk about changing locations.
Those little patterns can help you narrow things down.
Check Before Scheduling the Showing
A buyer may text you a listing and immediately ask, “Can we see this tonight?”
Before saying yes, check the property.
Make sure you understand the current listing status and showing instructions. See whether an appointment is available and whether there’s anything you need to discuss with the buyer first.
This is also a good time to check whether the property actually fits what you’ve talked about.
If there’s something you know may be an issue, mention it before everyone gets in the car.
You might say, “I can set up a showing, but I noticed the home doesn’t have the garage you told me you needed. Do you still want to take a look?”
They may say yes. That’s fine. At least you’ve had the conversation.
Use Those Listings to Improve the Search
If your buyer sends you one random home, it may not mean much.
If they send you five homes that all have something in common, pay attention.
Go back to the MLS search you’ve set up and see whether it needs an update.
Maybe the buyer is now open to older homes. Perhaps they’re looking farther away from work than they originally planned. They may have started paying attention to townhomes after telling you they only wanted a single-family home.
The search doesn’t have to stay exactly the same from the first day you started working together.
Talk About the Homes That Don’t Make Sense
Every once in a while, a buyer will send you something that seems completely different from everything you’ve discussed.
- Ask about it.
- Don’t respond with, “That’s not what you told me you wanted.”
- Try something more conversational:
- “This one’s a little different from what we’ve been looking at. What caught your eye?”
There may be a perfectly good reason.
Maybe they’re curious about the area. Maybe they saw a feature they liked. Or maybe their plans are changing and they haven’t mentioned it yet.
Give them a chance to explain before assuming they’re just sending random properties.
Keep the Conversation Going
The homes your buyer sends you can actually make your job easier if you’re paying attention to them.
Instead of only looking at whether each property matches the original search, look at what the buyer keeps coming back to.
What are they saving? What are they sending you? Which homes do they want to see right away? Which features keep showing up?
Those choices can tell you things the buyer may not have been able to explain during your first meeting.
Learn How to Work With Buyers, Not Just Search for Homes
Knowing how to use the MLS is important, but working with buyers involves much more than running a property search.
You also have to learn how to ask better questions, notice when a buyer’s priorities are changing, explain the process, and know when you need help from your broker or another professional.
Some of that comes from experience. Good training can help you get there too.
At LEAP Real Estate Academy in Orlando, you can continue learning from real estate instructors who can share what they’ve experienced working with clients themselves. Those conversations can help you understand how to handle the situations that don’t always look exactly like the examples in a textbook.
So when your buyer sends you a house you haven’t seen yet, don’t look at it as them doing your job.
Open the listing, see what caught their attention, and use it to learn a little more about the person you’re helping.
Continue your real estate education with LEAP and keep building the skills you’ll use with buyers every day.
