How Do You Deal With Buyers Backing Out of Deals?

By Jacqueline Smith

Jacqueline Smith started in real estate in 2015 and sold 52 homes her first year in the business as a solo agent. After considering growing her own team, and exploring different team models, she decided to partner with Place in 2017. The partnership allowed her to fast track her growth, and provide better systems and models to her agent partners. Her and her team in Vancouver Washington now close over $165M in annual sales volume, while keeping the quality of the agent and client experience at the forefront.

Recently, a lot of agents have called me asking about buyers backing out of real estate transactions. This problem is significantly hurting their bottom lines, but they don’t know what to do. If you’ve experienced buyers getting cold feet in this market, don’t panic: You have options. The truth is that this market is volatile, but there are still steps you can take to ensure more buyers follow through and get to closing. Here are three things you should do to deal with buyers backing out of real estate deals:

1. Be a leader. Staying calm when a deal falls through is easier said than done. However, there’s a solution to every problem. When a deal starts to fall apart, both buyers and sellers tend to freak out a little bit. Selling a home is an emotional process, and hundreds of thousands of dollars are on the line. That’s why it’s critical that you stay calm and be a leader in this situation. The seller and buyer are both going to be looking to you for guidance, and you need to project confidence that the deal can still be done. Don’t get sucked into an emotional reaction and be the rock everyone needs to find a solution that works for everyone.

2. Remind the buyer why they want to move. No matter how adamant a buyer is that they want to walk away, the deal might not be over. Even minor issues can spark a strong emotional reaction from buyers, but if you let things calm down, cooler heads often prevail. Remind both parties about their motivations for moving. By getting them to refocus on their motivations instead of whatever issue is holding them back could bring them back to the table and revive a dead deal.

3. Help buyers understand this market. Buyers are in an odd spot in this market. Interest rates have recently changed, and a lot of buyers are paralyzed by the volatility. This is why you need to help buyers understand the opportunities they have in this market. They won’t have more choices than they do now. While no one knows for sure what will happen with rates, it’s likely they’ll decrease soon, which will increase buyer demand and lower supply. The home might not be everything they’ve ever wanted, but the truth is that they might not get a better opportunity. If you make them understand that, they might be more willing to overlook an issue holding them back.

If you’re interested in more of this granular, issue-based training, I encourage you to reach out to my team. Just give us a call or send us an email; in a market with fewer transactions, it’s more important than ever that you make the most of what you can.