Entry by Ron Stuart

Real life consulting incident

  4 Comments

Here’s an actual email received from my website www.halifaxrealestatechoices.com  on April 18 ( name changed and identifying info obscured).

 

Hi there, I am a first time home buyer and close to entering into a private sale agreement with a friend. He is selling a town house on ********* Court, near ******* Ravine Park. Since all of the homes on his street are identical, I am interested in meeting with a realtor to discuss what similar homes are selling for so I can determine if the price he is asking is reasonable. I think that it likely is, but I would like to speak to a professional before entering into an agreement. I was just wondering how much it would cost to meet with you for a consultation? This sale is quite time sensitive since he plans on listing with a realtor very soon if I don't buy. I can be reached any time at 902-880-****. Thanks! Peter.

 

How do you think most agents would respond to this?

  1. Ignore it as not worthwhile?
  2. Engage him and try to turn it into a sale by convincing him he should consider other properties as well (which offer a co-broke, of course)?
  3. Slow dance him until the seller listed the property, thus ensuring a co-broke?
  4. Try to convince him he needs a buyer’s agent’s services and should pay a percentage of the purchase price for that privilege?
  5. Swallow your resentment at working for nothing and just freely give him the information he wants in exchange for goodwill and, hopefully, future business.

Here’s what happened. Peter accepted an invitation to my office for a chat. I found out he had just graduated Dalhousie Medical School and was about to begin a residency program. Already pre-qualified for mortgage financing, he was pre-sold on consulting with an ACRE® after visiting my web site. He felt comfortable realizing I wasn’t out to sell him anything.

After explaining and suggesting certain services from which he might benefit, he readily engaged me at my hourly rate to advise him on fair market value. When he learned that the price he was preparing to pay privately was several thousand dollars above fair market value, he said my fee was the best bargain he ever made and the money thus saved would more than fund engaging me to complete the transaction. This was quick and easy because I just happened to know the neighbourhood as well as I know my own back yard.

He did just that, engaging me to visit the property, prepare the offer, present it to the owner and negotiate an agreement, guide him through due diligence, hold his deposit money in trust, and troubleshoot the deal through to closing.

He promptly paid me for every minute of my work, amounting to slightly under $1,000 dollars and was happy to have saved approximately $3,000 to $4,000 on the price of his purchase.

Consulting is wicked cool!

4 Comments

That was a win win for everyone!

Wow, what a great experience!

Congratulations!

This page contains a single entry by Ron Stuart published on July 29, 2010 12:14 PM.

Interesting Post on AR: Buyer Asked for 50% of my Commission was the previous entry in this blog.

Roller Coaster Ride with Buyer Consulting is the next entry in this blog.

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