There have been buyers that find it hard to arrange viewings, drawing conclusions about agents who seem to ask questions to disallow prospective buyers from viewing units. Learn about how agents are actually qualifying property buyers and the logic behind!
Concept of Qualification
The concept of buyer qualification is probably one that is already familiar to many buyers but not something buyers accept. Seller agents help sellers to screen potential buyers and allow qualified ones to arrange viewings.
This qualification process then includes asking questions of the prospective buyer to better understand what they are looking for and how ready they are. A qualified buyer in the eyes of a competent seller agent is one that is ready to but, knows what he/she wants, has done the loan calculations and ideally is looking for a unit urgently.
The qualified buyer, in the eyes of the seller agent, provides a higher chance of giving and offer and hence closing the transaction.
Demand vs Supply
As the number of slots available for viewings each day is limited, agents prefer to open the units to more serious buyers. This situation creates potential buyers who feel aggrieved at being omitted in the qualification process. These buyers might be judged to be less serious or urgent as others and are thus overlooked during their requests for viewings.
It's a simple matter of supply and demand. In Aaron's 12 years of experience as a real estate agent, supply being above demand is a rarity. Usually, demand for property has outstripped supply in Singapore, and with that it means there is an abundance of willing buyers in the market.
Agents will then need to find the likeliest buyer for the unit.
Agent's Job
As the seller agent has to act in the best interests of his/her client, they would find the most qualified and urgent buyers. Between a buyer that has already sold the previous unit and one who is looking to buy first sell later, the former is often judged to be more urgent and ready.
Thus, the ready and urgent buyers usually are the ones who have sold their previous unit and looking to purchase one quickly. Buyers who have the financial ability to buy first sell later or purchase additional units then are considered less urgent and might adopt a look look see see attitude for viewings.
It's not wrong for buyers to decide how they want to go about their buying or if they want to engage buyer agents, but it's also important to understand the point of view of seller agents and how they decide who to open the viewing slots for. Part of the due diligence that agents do include asking questions about if they have sold their place or if they have calculated the loan and budget they have.
Qualifying as a buyer
By understanding the thought process of agents in the industry, it's obvious that seller agents will qualify buyers who appear ready, prepared and are urgently looking for a place. This is in line with the intention to sell the unit quickly at a good price, acting in the best interests of their clients.
Thus, qualifying as a buyer is about getting judged by the agent through interactions and questions. This is just a natural result of the circumstances in the industry, so hopefully we have provided some insights to understanding this qualification process
Let Aaron explain the qualifying process of property buyers, from the eyes of an agent!