Questions Every Agent Must Ask Their New Clients

Accepting clients prematurely as an agent can be a real estate nightmare. Working with indecisive, or demanding clients is always not worth the struggle.

As an agent who desires to become the best in the game, you must be able to recognize and exploit the power inherent in asking your potential clients the right questions.

Let’s assume for instance that your client is ready to buy a home. This can be one of, or if not, the biggest investment of their life. Your ability to provide a world of relevant information and value is crucial for their investment success, and I don’t think you would be able to that without first asking the right questions and understanding what exactly it is they want.

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As a real estate agent, your goal for your buyer or seller clients is to, minimize their risks and maximize their profits!

Oscar Wilde once said, that “The answers are all out there, we just need to ask the right questions”. So like I opined earlier, a top agent must recognize the power in using specific questioning to get the answers you need.

That orthodox “smile and sell” approach won’t get you too far in the real estate field. Agents now strive to find ways to increase their probability of success while at the same time reducing failure. They do this through adding specific value to their clientele in order to differentiate from other professionals.

Questions can act as a leverage for real estate negotiations as you completely find out all the reasons your seller client want to sell or buyer clients want to buy, you now have more information for deals. Alternatively, you can also use questions to find out valuable information about the opposing side in order to leverage your negotiations.

There are several questions you as an agent must ask your clients that allows you to use both logic and emotions to guide them to their final decision.  Below are questions I think all good agents should ask.

Questions to ask a client who wants to sell:

1. How long have you been living at your property?
2. How long has your property been on the market?
3. How many different offers have been put on your property?
4. How much do you owe on the property?
5. Are you in a rush to sell (pressure)?
6. Is there a reason why you want to sell? (Use your professionalism to see if they are strong reasons)
7. Are there any hidden problems with the property that you might want to share with me, so I can help?
8. Is there anything around the area that may affect the value of the property (Positive/negative)
9. You’ve lived here for a while, are there any problems with the neighborhood I need to be aware of?

Questions to ask a client who wants to buy:

1. What is your motivation for buying a house?
2. How soon do you need to buy the home?
3. Do you have an understanding of the costs that come along with purchasing a home?
4. Are you planning to live in this home long-term, or are you looking at it as an investment?
5. Do you have any specifications regarding the area where you’d want to live in?
6. Will you be using any form of financial aid (mortgage) to facilitate the purchase?
7. Has a lender prequalified you for a loan? How much?
8. Do you have any special requirements for the property?
9. What are your needs vs. your desires in a home?
10. Will this be the first home you are purchasing?
11. What special requirements do you need in the property?
12. Let’s say we find the perfect property right now, are you prepared (financially or otherwise) to make your decision?

You are a professional, you must have the right information in your grasps to be able to deliver to clients excellently. The right questions result in answers you can use to your benefit, although many of us are not skilled in the art of questioning, what we can do is – practice . Practice and building rapport through questions will allow you to grow your relationship with your clientele.

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However, as much as it is important to ask the right questions, it is also important to document the answers as it’ll help you to build the client profile allowing you collect the area dynamics too.