3 Scary Home Buyer Types to Watch For When Selling Your Home
On your journey to a home sale you are going to meet a lot of different potential home buyers. Even if your Realtor deals with them initially, and you do the sensible thing by staying fairly out of sight while your home is shown, if things get a little more serious you will have to get involved.
As a real estate professional we – and our colleagues – are more than familiar with the types of buyers you are likely to encounter but although we can advise you we can’t make big decisions for you. What we can do however is forewarn you about some common types of home buyer who may be a little hard to read and even harder to handle. The kinda scary ones.
Kinda scary does not always mean bad though. These buyers can be dealt with and a great deal can be struck, as long as you know the pros and cons and how to handle things the right way.
So who are these slightly scary would be home buyers? Allow us to introduce them.
The Cash King (or Queen)
These are the potential home buyers who make it clear up front that they would be all cash buyers. A lot. In fact they can get rather cocky about it. Maybe they are entitled to as they have probably worked hard to get that kind of cash together.
Sometimes though their status as ‘easy’ all cash buyers leads these cash kings to ask for just one too many concessions, simply because they think that being an all cash offer they are preferred buyers and entitled to do so.
But here’s the thing to remember: The promise of cold, hard cash is more of a bragging point than a financial benefit to you. You are going to get the get profits of the sale no matter how the buyer actually raise the money, so if the demands get too crazy don’t feel bad about saying no and seeing what the well qualified financed buyer who was also has to say as well.
The Heartstring Tugger
This type of buyer is commonly found in a hotter real estate market. They know they are up against other buyers, but they continually make it clear to you how much they love your home and want to make it their own. They bring their puppies and or kittens to meet you and sends emotional notes along with their offer(s) with pictures of their kids and imaginings about how much the little darlings would love to live in your (soon to be former) home too.
In many ways these can be the most rewarding buyers to work with, it is nice to think that someone will love your home as much as you have. But don’t get too soppy. If that offer that comes along with that heartwarming letter is not a good one you need to get tougher.
You see, they could just be playing your heartstrings with one hand and reserving a fistful of cash in the other. Work with them, but prioritize your bottom line. This is still a business transaction, so keep your priorities straight and don’t get snowed under by a blizzard of emotions—at your own expense.
The Window Shopper
These are the home buyers dream of owning a home some day. They make their way around town, Realtor in tow, swooning at every house they visit , but seem to flake out when it comes to sealing a deal. They might even pose as hard negotiators making silly low ball offers they know won’t be accepted.
The reality behind these buyers is they usually just aren’t all that serious about buying a home right now, they are looking around for future reference. If you sense this is what’s going on, try to get your Realtor to determine if they’re looking at multiple properties and just how soon they’re looking to move in. The more properties they’re looking at and the more vague the answer, the more likely you should cut your losses rather than waste your time and move on to another buyer.