​It’s probably no surprise for real estate professionals to know that the spring market has started early this 2017. However, for many buyers who do not have access to all the information that agents have, many probably do not know nor appreciate that the best time to start their home search is now. That being said, there is no better time for real estate leads prospectors to reach out to your prospects and let them know that a great sense of urgency is needed especially if they wish to get the home that they have been wishing for all this time.

​With a flood of buyers in the market this spring, anyone who is truly motivated to buy a home needs to be prepared to get ahead of the race or else risk losing the home of their dreams. Here are 7 things that agents should advise their buyers to help them stay in front of the pack.

Financials is the first, and possibly most crucial, step to getting started in the home buying process. Important as this may be, it is a sad fact that real estate leads prospectors encounter a lot of resistance when it comes to this subject matter. A lot of buyers feel that they don’t need a pre-approval until they find the home of their dreams, only to enter a nightmare when they DO find that home but end up not getting that much-needed pre-approval.

Especially in spring where the market is swarming with buyers, agents should let their buyers know the importance of getting pre-approved even before they make that home search. If your team has a preferred lender, what better time to endorse your buyer to your partner and assure them that you have been working closely with your lending professional and that you are confident that they can get their financials straightened out.

Getting your buyer pre-approved is like getting a boost of nitro in home-buying race track. 
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Although cash-buyers seem to be very enticing to most home sellers, a lot meet this with skepticism. The last thing any seller wants is to waste time showing their property to a supposed cash buyer and find out that this person can’t afford.

With that, it is important for cash-buyers to be prepared to show their financial statements. It is a win-win for both parties since 1) the buyer will know exactly how much he/she is willing to shell out and 2) the seller will know if the buyer is indeed a serious one and can truly afford the home.
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Being a cash buyer is already an advantage. All a buyer needs to do is prove it.
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Thinking of buying a car or changing jobs? If a buyer is truly motivated to get ahead in the spring market, it is best to advise them to avoid these major financial changes. Financial situations such as these have a great impact on a buyer’s ability to purchase a home. For one, depending on a buyer’s financial capacity, it may affect the loan pre-approval. There is a chance that a buyer can be denied unless he/she settles this items first.

Now, what if a buyer decides on these financial changes after a pre-approval has been given. This now leads to the next item on the list.
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Yes, let’s get real. Pre-approved or not, any home buyer has a pretty good idea how much he or she can truly shell out every month to pay for a home. A pre-approval is given based on the financials that the lender has, but this may not include the kind of lifestyle that the buyer/borrower wants to maintain. It is this “reality” that leads to loans (despite a seemingly hefty screening and approval process) ending up as foreclosures. 

No one wins here. So, motivated as a buyer may be, let’s be honest and realistic with what we can afford.
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​Is your prospect renting? Do they own a home and have a mortgage to pay-off? This is another hurdle that you should discuss with your prospective buyers. If they are renting, are they on a long-term lease or are they month-to-month? If they are long-term, is it possible to get out of the lease, especially if they find the right home now? Do they own a home that they must sell first or have a mortgage that needs to be paid-off?

Answering all these questions will determine what first needs to be done to ensure a smooth and seamless home search. With your help, your buyers can rest assured that they can get their home purchase moving or, at the very least, give them options on how to proceed.

This is something that buyers probably do not know. Most home-buyers would think that the only thing that matters to sellers is the amount of money that they will net in their pockets. While there is some truth to this, there are other factors that sellers take into consideration when selecting offers. If your buyer finds a home that has 10 offers being presented to the seller, it would help to find out what your buyer can offer that other don’t. It can be as straight-forward like a higher down-payment or something as subtle as letting the seller know how special the home would be for the buyer.

Which leads to our final tip.
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Yes. No matter what it may be, as an agent, this is where your prowess comes in—to help your buyers go through the home search and home buying process as easily as possible. So, do let your buyers know that you, especially if they hire you as their agent, are on top of things and will do everything realistically possible for them to get the home of their dreams.

Spring is an exciting time to buy a home, but it does have its share of challenges. Letting your buyers understand these hurdles and helping them get passed them is a crucial first step to a successful home purchase.

​More information and tips to help you move forward with your home buyers are available at http://www.RealEstateLeadsProspector.com. Reaching out to people and building solid connections between you and your prospects is our passion. Know how we do it. Call 407-401-9225.

It is the end of winter and a lot of home buyers are completely over the holiday season. They are getting ready to make their home search. The same goes for home sellers—with the cold season gone, many are more motivated and very much prepared to get their homes in the market in anticipation of a robust number of buyers looking for homes. Indeed, the real estate market begins to heat up during this season and, yes, for real estate professionals, there are a lot of home buyers and sellers out there who will need your services. But, given these circumstances, can agents really afford to be lax with their prospecting efforts? For a true real estate leads prospector, absolutely not!
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Although the volume of leads start to increase during this season, there are several reasons why agents should beef up their prospecting. Here’s why.
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Does this line sound familiar? (yes, it was derived from a friendly-neighborhood super-hero flick) Never is this truer than in the spring market. With the sheer volume of prospects out in the open, your competitors are also out there ready to pluck away the next prospective buyer or seller that comes their way. For this reason, it is important for you to be ahead in the game by pro-actively reaching out to your leads to let them know that you exist and that you can help them with their real estate needs.
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Yes, in the spring, there is a vast sea of home buyers and sellers but the question is how many of them are truly motivated to buy or sell a home? During this season, many “supposed” buyer leads may just be curious to see what homes are available out there but are not exactly intent on purchasing. The last thing you want is to set an appointment with a lead only to end up becoming a tour guide, driving a bunch of people around town showing them homes that they won’t buy. 

The same goes for non-motivated sellers. With the confidence that there is a rise in demand, there may be homeowners out there who are just curious to know how much their home is worth but not really intending to sell.

It is because of these reasons why real estate leads prospectors should take extra effort not only to reach out to as many leads as they can, but also to understand their prospects’ motivation. Better prospecting will prevent you from getting stuck with leads with shallow motivation. The more motivated prospects you get in touch with, the more “real business” you can expect for you and your team.

Over the past few decades, the exponential advances in information technology has given many home buyers and sellers access to the real estate market by simply going online and tapping into any of the many real estate resources available in the internet. Although, the world wide web has become a powerful tool for real estate professionals for generating and harvesting leads, it has also become a potential source of disinformation for the very leads they are reaching out to.
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As the spring market begins, many of these “misinformed” real estate prospects may be out there. Don’t be surprised if you encounter a someone insisting to get their home sold for an amount based on certain websites that supposedly does market analysis for homes in their area. You, being a real estate professional, having access to the actual data, know that this may not be the case; and that the price being demanded may not actually be supported by the market. 

That said, it is almost a disservice not to do all we can to find these leads, get them in the know, and help them fulfil their real estate needs. They may not know it know, but these people certainly need you as much as you may need them.

Springtime is definitely an exciting time in real estate, so real estate professionals should enhance their prospecting efforts and not miss out the many opportunities for them to help their prospects find the home of their dreams. 

For more information and tips on real estate leads prospecting, visit http://www.RealEstateLeadsProspector.com or call us at 407-401-9225.

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How convenient would it be for any real estate professional if every prospect that came your way was referred to you by someone who says, “Hey, hire <your name here>. That agent is super awesome!” Reality, however, is quite different; and for the most part, agents should allocate a good amount of time and energy in prospecting for real estate leads. With that, it is crucial to make every call count; and understanding a prospect’s motivation will greatly help real estate leads prospectors make the most out of their calls and get that appointment set with the right kind of leads.
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​Motivation is the key driver for anyone to do… well… just about anything. So, understanding a prospect’s motivation is one of the best practices that agents should do since it serves as a barometer to gauge whether or not a home buyer is ready to take the next steps in the home buying process. Often, when an agent gets push-back from a lead, it is because there is something about the prospect’s motivation that the agent did not fully understand.

Here are 5 questions that leads prospectors should ask their real estate leads to help understand their level of motivation:

This is the very first thing that agents should understand. Often, there is an important reason driving the home search—a job transfer, someone who wants to be nearer to family, an elderly couple downsizing, et cetera. Buyers with a real need to buy have a sense of urgency to get things going. Keeping your lead focused on their motivation during your conversation will help make your prospecting calls as meaningful as it is as personal. The last thing you want is to waste your time setting an appointment with a lead who just wants you to bring them around town to view a couple of homes without any real intention of purchasing.
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The amount of time and effort that a prospect goes through in their home search will give you a good idea on how motivated they are. Those who would take the effort to go to open houses on top of performing multiple home searches—whether through the internet portals or other whatever means are available—are most likely more motivated to buy. 

How soon do you need to be in your new home?

Timing is another important aspect that agents should know and appreciate. Leads who need to be in their new home within the next 30 days are definitely more motivated to go to the next step in the buying process than those who are 6 months out and beyond. Of course, just because a lead is a few months out does not mean that they are not ready to buy. A follow up question you can ask is if they found a home that perfectly fits their criteria, will they be ready to write an offer. If the answer to that is yes, then you are talking to a very motivated lead.
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The home ownership situation of a buyer is another huge factor that real estate leads prospectors should consider. Renting, for instance, can be double-edge. On one end, renters would have a monthly budget set to pay for their rent, ergo, if an agent can find a home and setup a mortgage plan that equals the buyer’s monthly rent, then we have a lead that has the capacity to pay for a home. On the other hand, a renter can be on a long-term lease and may be unable to buy until the lease expires (unless there’s a clause in the contract that can allow the renter to get off the lease sooner).

For homeowners, there are a number of things that a leads prospector should take into consideration as well. Do they need to sell before they buy? How much do they still owe on their home? These questions will determine how ready your prospect is to make that home purchase. 
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When you go out shopping, it is almost instinctive for you to check if you have your wallet with you—when you find what you want to buy, you got to have enough to pay for it. The same goes for real estate, a truly motivated buyer make sure to get pre-approved by a lender to know how much he/she can afford. If a lead is not yet pre-approved, if they are willing to talk to a lending a professional and get that pre-approval, that is another good sign of a motivated buyer.
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Here is a question that not every agent asks—what budget is realistic for you? Even if a buyer lead got pre-approved, the pre-approval is usually based on the numbers that the lender is privy to. However, this does not take into consideration the lifestyle that the prospect may want to maintain. Although the numbers might say a lead can “ideally” afford x-amount for their home, it may entail them to make sacrifices to their current lifestyle—sacrifices that they may not be willing to make in the long run.

Every agent should dedicate enough time and effort in understanding the motivation of your real estate leads. The level of motivation of a prospect will determine what kind of service we can provide to our leads: whether to give them the most updated listings to aid them in their home search or set that appointment now to help them fulfill their real estate needs.
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