We want to know if a buyer can afford to buy your property and are they REALLY interested?
Are they merely ‘browsers’ – people who dream they can have a property like yours and who spend weekends viewing properties like they would racks of clothing, but with no serious intention of buying anything?
Our 30 years of experience has given us an instinctive feel for who is a serious buyer and who isn’t…
Top Tip No. 1 – Are they being open and honest about their current situation?
We make it clear we want to know more about a buyer and their circumstances to ensure they’re committed.
They usually tell us why they’re moving from their current place, what sort of finances they have in place to proceed and, most important of all, their full contact details. Browsers don’t like giving out their contact details in case they get exposed for being time-wasters.
We have had situations before where you will have someone view a property who is already struggling to pay their current rent are just having a look at the property because they are either bored or want to ‘fantasise’ a different life – unfortunately, it does happen.
Top Tip No. 2 – Do they have enough money to make a down payment and cover closing costs? Are they proceedable?
Buyers should have around 20 per cent of the property cost ready to make as a deposit and another 2-7 percent of the property cost to cover general legal costs. If they do not have enough to cover these costs then it is very likely they are not in a proceedable position, even if they think they and would genuinely like to purchase the property so it’s important to try and get hold of this knowledge from the beginning to avoid disappointment.
Top Tip No. 3 – Do they have good credit, which they are monitoring and maintaining?
A qualified buyer will know what their current financial situation is and will talk about (in the strictest of confidence with us as the agent of course) because they will have been monitoring it. They should also be able to provide their financial situation quickly because if they were serious they would have already checked it out and got hold of this information.
