3 Fast Ways To Prequalify Homebuyers

Written by Realty Times Staff Posted On Monday, 23 February 2015 10:34

With favorable home financing interest rates continuing to hold, the market is being flooded with homeowners looking to upgrade to larger houses, as well as hopeful first time homebuyers.

This presents a great opportunity for you as a real estate agent, with large numbers of clients to choose from. However, this wave of potential homebuyers also means that it's more important than ever to make sure you're spending your valuable time working with the right buyers, rather than wasting time with ones who are not a good fit for you.

Here are 3 ways you can prequalify homebuyers to maximize your productivity and earnings...

1. Make sure you're talking to the decision-maker

Before doing any work with a client, it's important to confirm that you're dealing with all the people who will ultimately be involved in the purchasing decision. Otherwise, you run the risk of having to repeat the entire sales process with another person (e.g. a spouse), and in some cases the deal can end up falling through altogether.

Even if someone seems like they are the actual buyer, there are plenty of circumstances in which they may be casually shopping without their spouse (who may also be the primary borrower). Or they may be planning to finance their home with a cosigner who needs to weigh in on the decision. So it's important to find this out ahead of time.

One simple way to do this is by saying something like, "Mr. Client, will there be anyone else involved in the purchasing decision?" That simple line can save you untold amounts of time and energy!

2. Prepare a questionnaire

Simply inquiring about a homebuyer's financial circumstances can be a great way to gather information and spot any potential red flags that could indicate the client isn't quite ready to work with you yet.

Examples of helpful topics to ask about include employment (current and past), whether they've purchased a home before, and how soon they're looking to move.

The best way to do this is by creating a simple questionnaire with a list of key questions that clients can fill out quickly and easily. Preparing this list of questions in advance saves you time, and you can give out the same questionnaire to all of your clients via email or fax for maximum efficiency.

3. Use ScoreApprove

ScoreApprove is a free real estate sales tool with a groundbreaking feature: The ability to check a homebuyer's credit (and maximum finance capability) within seconds, without doing any damage to their score.

Unlike standard credit inquiries, ScoreApprove's soft credit pull puts homebuyers at ease in knowing their credit will be protected -- and it gives agents the ability to earn more by investing their time with qualified buyers.

As a bonus, ScoreApprove also offers more great features for real estate agents, including automated marketing tools to increase leads, automatic posting of leads to the CRM of your choice, email alerts that allow you to follow up with buyers at just the right time, and more...

Click here to find out more about ScoreApprove or to sign up for free >>

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