Our house has been on the market for 17 days. In those 17 days, we’ve had 8 showings with amazing feedback. The house is extremely well priced (about 5k less than comparable homes in the area and comes with an in home generator). We are extremely motivated to sell our home because we have an accepted contingency offer on our dream home.
My question is this:
The pattern seems to be potential buyers that are just getting started on the search, they love the house, go to the bank and get approved, then decide to go shopping more once they get a pre approval letter. This has left me and my husband feeling frustrated and like we’re wasting our time. What is your opinion on requiring a pre-approval letter before accepting a showing request? Looking for input from buyers, sellers, realtors…. Anybody!
Pre approval letters before showing?
byu/RhapsodicGlitterBomb inRealEstate
Posted by RhapsodicGlitterBomb
13 Comments
Man that’s super frustrating but honestly requiring pre-approval might hurt you more than help. A lot of serious buyers will just skip your place entirely if you throw up that barrier, especially early in their search when they’re still figuring out their budget. Maybe try having your agent screen a bit better during the initial contact instead
Are you a first time home seller?
I hear you. Unfortunately, this isn’t too uncommon. The first part of the year is always full of buyers just starting to dip their toes into the water. For the buyers out there in December, they’re just ahead of the curve, but still just looking to get started. In fact, I’d say this is true of most buyers for all of Q4.
I wouldn’t require a pre-approval before showing because I feel you want to get as many potential buyers inside your property, as possible. And who knows, maybe somebody is so impressed with their home that they’re compelled to get their financing in order after the showing and make an offer?
It sucks, but if you’re getting strong activity, I feel it’s just a matter of time before somebody comes forward with an offer.
A lot of buyers are not going to want to share that information just to be able to see the property. You may be alienating your ideal buyer by doing this.
My question is going to be, why did eight people walk into your home and not a single one of them make an offer? Something about your listing is not compelling enough to have gotten an offer from one of them. You’re looking for buyers who are serious, but buyers are looking for sellers who are serious. You’re either not prepped well, priced right, or you’re not marketing in a way that’s attracting buyers who would want your home. To be blunt it’s not the buyers, it’s something you’re putting out there.
I don’t think that is an unreasonable request. A realtor that is working with a buyer who is not yet pre-approved is wasting everyone’s time anyway. It may discourage some buyers but shouldn’t be a problem for serious buyers. Pre-approval letters are easy to get and can usually be done online or over the phone.
It’s part of the ebb and flow of the market. When it’s a sellers market, approval letters are a requirement but when it’s a buyers market you want to do what you can to not limit your buyer pool. It’s also tough to sell in the winter because that’s when many people feel less like moving.
For me when I’m representing buyers, I don’t even meet with them at properties unless they’ve seen a lender and I have a preapproval. Otherwise they’re wasting my time and if they’re wasting my time, I certainly don’t wanna be wasting another agent and their clients time. It makes no sense for agents to show properties to buyers that haven’t seen a lender to determine whether or not they can’t even get a mortgage or how much they can get. They also might be looking at homes at one price point only realize that they can be looking at homes at a different price point.
I think that’s alot to ask from a buyer… the agents should be advising the buyer to get pre-approved first. However, we’re all human. There may be hesitation and preference to start seeing homes first before heading to the bank, especially if they’re not a first time home buyer.
You have a very limited pool of buyers right now.
Tariffs have driven consumer goods prices up,
Alot of people are hoping not to get laid off as there have been layoffs happen both fed govt and private.
And in a lot of places the RE market has turned either neutral or into a buyers market.
And it’s winter to boot.
And you want to require a pre-approval letter?
I would just skip your home all together… Especially it’s not the sellers business to know how much I can spend.
If you had 8 showings and zero offers, either there is something they don’t like about the home( close to a prison, close to a major highway or airport, etc.) or you are priced too high.
Every seller thinks there price is below comps.
For reference , we priced right during the 2008 banking collapse and had alot of showings and a few offers and sold within a month/two month timeframe.
If you really want to sell and sell quickly, start preparing to lower your price maybe even substantially
You can’t sell quickly and get the windfall you want.
The ole you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
How do you know that the people who have seen the house don’t have pre-approvals? Even if they’re not ready to make a decision, people who look at homes usually have pre-approvals before scheduling showings.
In a similar spot. Just got our first offer today after about a month and 10 or so showings (even showing to one couple twice). It just happens. There’s a lot of homes on the market and buyers have a lot of options.
Why are you using other listed properties for your comps? List prices aren’t good comps. What are places actually selling for? Check sold comps to validate your pricing strategy. I strongly suspect you are too high if 8 showings generated no offers.
If they really loved the house they would get the pre approval and make an offer.
I’m a real estate investor that does six deals a year and I have never once done this. I simply refuse.