From time to time, I have a customer or a prospect tell me that they felt the right thing for them to do, as they attempted to sell their house, was to restrict showings to people who were pre-qualified for a mortgage somewhere.
(This article first appeared on this website in Jan of 2014.)

That person is making two huge assumptions here. Firstly, they are assuming that their house is so wonderful, that there will be an abundance of interest from potential buyers who wish to look at it. And secondly, they are assuming that everybody is sharp and savvy enough to have visited a mortgage lender and completed an approval process prior to house looking. Well, guess what…

Whether you have an agent selling your house, or you are selling it yourself, it is not in your interest to put any restrictions on the people you let in to view your house. You are afraid to invest any amount of your time on someone who you think may be a waste of that time. The fact is, that when you decided to sell your house, the investment of your time in that individual who may or may not ultimately want to and be qualified to buy your home became your job. You need to try to get enough people through that front door, as quickly as possible until the right person comes through and the magic happens. Hopefully, when that magic happens, that person will either have a sack of cash, or the ability to get a mortgage so that you can get paid.

It would be quite perfect if we could wait and not have to make any effort until we were sure it was made on that ONE prospect who would eventually buy the house. But since that probably won’t happen, you need to have a plan b.

Plan b is to think of your front door as a funnel. Your task is to get as many people into that funnel as you can until the right one goes through. The more people you can get through that funnel, the quicker you will sell your house. There will be a time, and it will come almost immediately, that you wish there were more people wanting to get into that funnel. You may even try some marketing of some description to get more people into that funnel.
So, my advice would be to always get people in there and then, you can possibly sort some out, but not in advance, not before they have even had the chance to buy your house.

A very long time ago, when I had been in this business only a few years, I learned a valuable lesson about buyers. I call it the “Jack Factor.” I had a house listed for sale in Nashville, and I had it advertised in a small free (to the public) real estate magazine at the time. A fellow called me and asked several questions about the house. And then he asked me something about another house on that page that was not my listing. I assured him that I would love to help him see both houses if that was his desire, and he told me that had already talked to the listing agent for the other house, and that agent was very dismissive of him and told him that the house he was asking about was “pretty expensive.” That other agent was a fairly high-volume, top agent in the area, but I try to treat people the way I would like to be treated.

When I met with the fellow (yes, his name turned out to be “Jack”) to show him the houses, he was wearing overalls, and looked as though he wouldn’t be out of place on a farm. After we spent the afternoon together, I found him to be exceptionally likeable and financially very capable, but unaware of the fine art of buying a house. In fact, he was possibly able, though he didn’t totally, for various reasons, pay all cash for the house. He just didn’t look or act like he had that kind of money. It was one of the easiest and most pleasant sales with which I have ever been involved.

Needless to say, when I am working with someone to help them sell their house, or trying to show a house to a potential buyer, I occasionally hear that access will only be given to someone holding a pre-qualified letter from a bank. That only tells me that either they are not that motivated to sell, or they have never had someone take the time to tell them about funnels and reality in the world of real estate sales. They need to learn about the “Jack Factor.”

Good luck for now! Get to work if you want it to happen. Call me if you want to talk. Yes, I am the Reasonable Realtor. Don Martin, MARTIN PROPERTIES (615) 973-8970

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Don Martin   ( mlsDon.com )

Martin Properties (Flat Fee MLS to Full or Graduated Services in Nashville, TN)