Brandie Malay is a Realtor with @properties.
Every week, we ask a real estate professional for their Short List, a collection of tips and recommendations on an essential topic in real estate. This week, we talked with Brandie Malay, a Realtor with @properties, for her approaches to managing clients unrealistic expectations.
3. First and foremost you need to set the tone of your relationship with clients from the very first interaction. They need to understand that you are a professional and will be doing all you can to find them their dream home, or sell their house in the shortest amount of time and for the most money possible.
2. When I have unrealistic sellers, I will take them to open houses of comparable homes so they can see what they are competing against. That way they can truly understand different levels of finishes, layouts and locations. That will often quickly put things into perspective for them. It gets them out of their home where they are just looking at sheets of comparables, and gets them into the physical space of the competition and opens their eyes to reality; also, it helps them remove the emotional aspect of the situation.
1. For some of my buyers lately, I’ve had to have some “tough love” conversations. Several started looking seven to nine months ago and unfortunately, the market is starting to eclipse them. What I mean by that is, they can now no longer afford the homes that, when they first started their journey, they could have afforded and would have worked for them.
It’s tricky in these market conditions to try and explain to new buyers in the market what’s really happening. Sometimes, it takes them losing out on a property or two for them to fully comprehend the situation at hand. I’ve had to tell buyers recently that they can no longer afford to look in the areas they want. That’s a very tough pill to swallow. They either have to adjust their expectations of what their money will buy them or they have to increase their price point. Those are two things I don’t like to see my clients have to do, but that’s the reality.
Brandie Malay is an award-winning Realtor with @properties. She is also a nationally recognized real estate expert and has been featured on CNN, CNBC, Fox Business News and The Today Show.
She currently has a show, “Property Envy,” on Bravo. Her past shows include “Designed to Sell” and “Hidden Potential” on HGTV.