Back to Blog

How to Effectively Present an Offer to a Seller

In many cases, agents will sit with a Seller … they have an offer and the Seller rejects it. This week on MFTV, Ron Cronin discusses seven steps you can follow to make your presentation of the offer more effective and get more people to accept the offer as it is.

Hello. Welcome to Mike Ferry TV. I’m Ron Cronin.

Let’s discuss today how to present an offer to a Seller in an effective manner. In most cases, agents will sit with a Seller … they have an offer … they’re excited to present it … the first thing they discuss is the price … the Seller rejects it … and then nothing else about the offer is even considered … and then the answer’s either “no” or you turn into a counter offer situation.

Well, let’s discuss seven important steps that you can follow to make your presentation of the offer more effective and get more people to accept the offer as it is.

The first step that you want to do is … establish with the Seller their motivation. Discuss with them quickly … remind them … lay out on the table what their motivation is. Now this is the motivation they talk to you about when you listed the property, but when presenting the offer … let’s make sure that we establish it one more time to put it fresh in their mind.

1) Establish their motivation.

2) Discuss the qualifications of the buyer.

That’s the second step … the Buyer’s qualifications.

3) Discuss the deposit that the Buyers are putting down on the house … if you work in a state that still collects earnest money deposits.

If not, you would just skip step number 3. Step number 3 … discuss the deposit if that’s something that you do.

4) Read the contract from the bottom up.

We all know that at the top of a Purchase Agreement is probably the price. We don’t want to tell them the price just yet because none of the offer … the rest of the offer … won’t be considered if you do. So, we want to read the offer from the bottom up … and I’m going to demonstrate all this in just a moment.

Step number 5 … once you’ve read the offer from the bottom up …

5) Go directly to the net sheet.

Don’t ask them how they feel about the offer or about the price or get into lengthy conversation. Once you present the offer, the price would be last … go directly to the net sheet.

6) Review quickly the benefits of your offer … or we’ll say the highlights of your offer.

Review the highlights of your offer … step number 6.

7) Ask for the signature.

One more time …

1) Establish their motivation.

2) Discuss the qualifications of the Buyer.

3) Discuss the deposit … if that’s appropriate.

4) Read the contract from the bottom up.

5) Go directly to the net sheet.

6) Review the benefits … or the highlights of the offer before step number 7 …

7) Ask for the signature. Ask if they’d like to accept the offer as it is.

Let me give you a demonstration. If I was presenting the offer to you, I’d say … “Mr. Seller,” or “Mrs. Seller … I have an offer for you. I’m excited to present it. I want you to know that I first want to establish that you are still planning to move to Florida, and you’d like to be there before the end of January … ultimately to be closer to your grandchildren. Is that correct?”

“Yes … that’s what I have in my notes. Fabulous. Well … as far as these Buyers go, I want you to know that he is an engineer who’s been 20 years on the job and Mrs. Buyer is a teacher at the local high school. So, they’ve been in the area for many, many years and they’d like to purchase your home. They’re putting down a $20,000 earnest money deposit to show their good faith and that they’re serious about buying your house. They’ve put a close date of January 5th …. close date is January 5th … they’re asking for no seller contributions … they’re asking for a 1-year home warranty and they’d like the price to be $450,000 … and this is a cash offer. There will be no mortgage involved. They’re purchasing all cash.

Now … $450,000 … after the title, the escrow, the commissions and all the fees … it gives a net to you of $422,000. Now, this offer would allow you to close on time. As I said, it’s all cash … and so far, this is the highest offer that you’ve received. My next question is … Would you like to accept this offer and get to Florida by January?”

So, guys and gals, it’s just a quick, effective way to present the offer. The idea is that with this method … with this manner of presentation, you’re able to convey all of the qualities and the benefits of the offer versus them honing in on just the price and becoming an instant “no.” Follow the seven steps next time … and thanks for watching.

 

Mike Ferry is the global leader in real estate coaching and training. Watch Mike each week as he discusses a variety of topics to help real estate agents and brokers. Grow your real estate business by improving your mindset, developing your skills and creating a plan of action to increase your production!


 

Join The MFO Newsletter:

Share this post

Back to Blog