7 Categories of a Home Buyer, What Every For Sale By Owner Needs to Know - By: YourStreetDreams.com Carlsbad Ca

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) February 7, 2011 -- Buyers that say “We are looking for a home to buy” generally fall into one of the numbered categories and one of the lettered categories identified below. It's our job as real estate professionals to find out and assess the intent of the buyer(s) and ensure they can and are ready to make a viable offer on a home.

The 4 Primary Types of Buyers

1. Buyers who are buying a home and paying all cash. This buyer requires no loan and can make it happen as soon as they find something they like. We call this a “Cash Buyer,” which is at the top of the list. Keep in mind we as Realtors will want to see the proof of funds to ensure they are really cash buyers.

2. Buyers who are fully qualified by a legitimate lender who requested and checked all of the buyer's financial documents before issuing a qualified loan statement. We call this a “Lender Qualified Buyer.”

3. Buyers who have verbally given their information to a loan broker who issues a letter of qualification based on their verbal conversation and most likely have not pulled a credit report. We call this a “Potential Buyer.”

4. Buyers who are out looking at homes but haven’t put the effort into getting the financing questions out of the way. We call this a “Fully Un-qualified Buyer.”

The 3 Main Interest Levels of Buyers:

A. Serious Buyer(s) are buyers who have been actively searching for a home for 7 to 18 weeks and longer in some cases, usually 1-4 weeks of on line searching before they get out and start reviewing the actual homes. Statistics show that a buyer that has been searching this long knows a the areas prices and are ready to make an offer when they find a home that fits their criteria. These buyers know that a home priced correctly will not stay on the market long and they are typically motivated to buy in this stage.

B. Warm Buyer(s) are buyers who have been previewing homes for 1 to 3 weeks. These buyers are somewhat motivated, however, they will generally take more time to decide which homes will fits their needs. These buyers are in the partial discovery mode and sometimes don’t know exactly what they are looking for and need time to figure it out. These buyers will be motivated in a few weeks or months depending on their housing situation.

C. Potential Buyer(s) are buyers who are just getting started. They request a lot of information from websites and Realtors, however, they are weeks and sometimes months away from figuring out what they really want in a home and finding a Realtor they’ll be comfortable working with. While many may become home buyers in the future, a percentage of these buyers will find that they really don't qualify for loans today.

This outlines the 7 basic categories of buyers, which is important to know since there are now 4 important questions that you should ask in order to quickly determine which type of buyer you are dealing with.

Question #1 - Have you been looking for a home long?

If they are coming over to see your home then you know they are in the stage of actually previewing homes. If they are calling about the property then they could be in the early stages of decision making.

Question #2 - Do you have a lender pre-qualification letter?

This is an important question because buyers that are serious have already learned that they will need the pre-qualification letter in hand before they can write an offer. If they are a cash buyer then they will need proof of funds to accompany any offer they will submit. (Special note: Reputable Direct Lenders will always want to see the actual documentation from a buyer before issuing a pre-qual letter. Mortgage brokers sometime will issue based on verbal info)

Question #3 - Are you working with a Realtor?

Many times buyers will go to open houses and preview homes with out a Realtor and when they find something they like then they'll call their Realtor to find out more of the details. This also gives you a heads up that a Realtor may be talking with you also.

Question #4 - When would you like to be in your new home?

This will usually bring up "We have to sell a home first" or it could be a more immediate need such as "Our lease is up in 2 months." If they have a home to sell and it's not priced correctly then they might as well say "We have plenty of time to wait" but if they have a tentative date set in the near future then they are probably very motivated.

Answers like " We are just looking for now" doesn't mean they aren't interested, it may mean that they have seen 30 houses in the past 4 days and their heads are spinning from trying to process all the information.

Summary:

1A & 2A buyers are obviously the most motivated buyers and these are generally the type that will submit an offer when they find a home that meets their needs and that is priced competitively.

More information can be found online at http://YourStreetDreams.com

Carlsbad Ca homes     Carlsbad Ca homes for sale     carlsbad homes     Carlsbad homes for sale     for sale by owner     fsbo     FSBO homes     San Diego Home for sale