Communicate Value! But How? A Step-By-Step Buyer’s Presentation

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Unsure how to communicate value in a buyer-broker presentation? Team leader Andrew Undem has the answer as he shares his “8 pillars of value” buyer presentation that succinctly communicates the value he brings to his clients throughout the buying process.

“You win business through your reputation or your preparation. Ideally both, but you must be prepared, prior to the opportunity, to be able to clearly state the value you bring,” said Andrew Undem, managing partner and team leader of SURE Group with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty, serving the Baltimore Metro area.

Undem continued, “Everyone knows that bond and rapport, making other people comfortable, is important, but you can’t make other people comfortable until you’re comfortable. You must become unconsciously competent, and that only comes through preparation.

Undem communicates his value by explaining his “8 pillars” of the buying process, which creates a framework for the explanation of each and how he brings value to each.

1. Loan preapproval

The process of buying a home begins with loan preapproval. Undem provided the following script as an example of how he communicates value when explaining this portion of the process:

“When you’re going to buy a home it’s important to understand all the loan options and different programs available. Here in Baltimore, a lot of times buyers don’t know they can get grant money, down payment assistance, or even tax credits with certain loan programs that are available. There are so many options that I can assist you in finding that can unlock some value for you in the loan process.

“One of the components of value we bring to this part of the process is to understand what programs you might qualify for and to assist you in not only getting preapproved but in getting your assets verified. This is doing heavy lifting before you start the process of seeing homes so that we can work with the lender to help us convey to the seller how strong you are.

“So right from the start, we will work to save you money by finding loan programs and specific loans that fit your needs. We will also help you find a loan partner that can help us present an offer that is compelling to the seller.”

2. Home search

Undem then moved to his second pillar, which is the home search portion of the process. Skipping the portion everyone knows, like building rapport and identifying their wants/needs, he went right into the language he uses to convey the value he brings.

“Ask the question: ‘When you’re searching for homes, how are you doing that now?’” Undem said. “Most will answer on Zillow, Realtor.com or another search portal online. That’s great, but that is exactly what everybody does. The problem is that that doesn’t include many of the coming soon listings and off-market inventory.”

Here’s what you should say to the buyer:

“You should absolutely keep looking that way, but you’re only seeing homes an agent has put in the MLS that these websites have pulled from the MLS, and it is only a portion of the overall market and the homes that can be bought. Most agents are going to wait for a home to show up on the MLS, show you that home and collect their fee.

“We bring value by sharing all the potential homes for sale with our clients and working behind the scenes to provide you with information about homes before the other buyers that you will be competing with to find the best deal for you and your family. Did you know we can see all the homes that someone wanted to sell that didn’t sell? Those are called either expired or canceled listings. We want to look at those.

“Pocket listings are homes that are preparing to come on the market; we network with other agents to know about those. New construction listings are usually on a portion of the homes and floor plans a builder has available. We work to find those opportunities for our buyers as well. This is why during the search process, it is important for me to know what you are looking for so I can begin to provide you with a full view of all the homes available.”

3. Market dynamics

The next pillar is market dynamics. Here’s how he explains this segment to buyers:

“As you are searching for a home, you need to understand the market dynamics. The market dynamics are the relationship between active listings, homes that are under contract, and the homes that have sold. If you are narrowing in on a specific town, neighborhood or school district, it is nice to know a few things about that specific area.

What’s the average list-to-sale ratio?

“This helps us understand if the average buyer is paying a little less than list price, list price, or a little more than list price. Historical data is very important because it helps us create a compelling offer once we find the right home for you.”

Are there any closing costs sellers in this area have been paying for the buyers?

“We can see this by looking at the historical sales data. The national news shares what is happening nationally, but it is more important to understand exactly what is happening in your desired micro area. I want you to understand the micro market dynamics better than most real estate agents so that we can get you the best deal possible.” 

4. Offer research

Undem continued:

“Once we find the home, my job is to shift the focus to offer research. My job is to gather as much information as possible so we can create a compelling offer that gets you the best deal.

The research I want us to understand includes, but is not limited to:

• • How long has this home been on the market?
  • How many showings have they been getting?
  • Why is the seller selling?
  • Are there any critical dependencies for the seller in terms of the time frame for a sale or sales price?
  • What did they pay for the home when they bought it?
  • What type of financing did they get when they purchased the home?

“These are all pieces of information we can use and potentially leverage to get you the best deal possible.”

5. The components of an offer

As Undem transitioned into the next pillar, the components of an offer, he said this is one of the most compelling portions for agents to communicate value.

Here’s what to say to buyers:

“When most people find a home that, for instance, is priced at $400,000, they say, ‘I wonder if they will take $380,000?’ That’s a good question, but price is only one of the five components of an offer. These include purchase price, closing costs, contingencies, deposit and settlement date.

“The purchase price is obvious. We are going to utilize all the research information I mentioned earlier to suggest an offer price that helps you buy the home at the lowest price possible. The closing costs are the costs associated with buying the home, including mortgage expenses, title expenses, deed transfer fees, and several other purchasing-associated fees.

“Due to the number of transactions we do, I will be able to direct you to the providers with the lowest costs and leverage our size to provide as many of these expenses as possible at a discounted price.

“The contingencies are particularly important. My job is to protect you through the process and the contingencies are one of the ways we do this. You will almost always have a contingency on a home inspection, a contingency on your appraisal, your mortgage and any other contingencies we need to protect you.

“Keep in mind, when we come to an agreement to purchase a home, we have the right to buy that home, we do not have to buy that home. The seller only has one house to sell, we can buy any home we decide to buy. Therefore, we are not going to give our power away, and we are going to protect you through the process by the contingencies we utilize in the offer.

“The fourth component is the earnest money deposit. Typical in our market is 1 percent, but we may adjust this based on how we may be able to increase the attractiveness of your offer. The last component is the settlement date. By understanding if there is a time frame the seller needs to move by or if having some additional time for closing is desirable to the seller then we can adjust our offer in a way to potentially accommodate them in this area to get what we want in one of the additional components.

“Once we have the offer together, the presentation of the offer is another way to make your offer stand out from others. We submit every offer in an organized fashion along with coaching the listing agent on how to present our offer in the best possible way. The email includes one clean PDF, with our verified approval, with an easy-to-understand summary of the offer. This makes the job of the listing agent easier and shows him/her that we are going to be easy to work with.”

6. Contract period

When it comes to the contract period Undem will say to buyers:

“Once we have a signed contract, all the dates become live. We have a specific amount of time to apply for your loan. We have a specific amount of time to have your home inspection done. Each step of the way, our entire home services ecosystem is going to get involved.

“This includes the lender, the inspector, the appraiser, the title company and anyone else involved in the transaction. This is where our administrative strengths through my team are going to move this transaction to settlement while maintaining your protection throughout the process.”

7. Settlement

Here’s how Undem explains the settlement:

“At the settlement, one of the components of value we bring is our relationship with our settlement attorneys, who guarantee to provide you with the lowest fees, will settle anytime, anywhere, at your convenience and will work to get you a reissue rate if possible.

“A reissue rate is because the seller of the home, in most cases, has a title insurance policy in place from when they bought the home. By requesting a copy of that policy, which most agents don’t do, the settlement attorneys may be able to utilize that policy to provide you with a reissue rate that can be substantially lower than purchasing a completely new policy.”

“I will work to drive your closing costs down in every way possible because I can effectively manage the entire real estate ecosystem.”

8. Post-settlement

Undem wrapped up the summary of his buyer presentation with the following:

“The closing of the home is just the beginning for my services, and I’m here for you if you need anything. You need a contractor, a painter, a mover, anything, you have access to our clients-only home services guide so that we can continue to assist you with anything you need going forward. Do you have any questions about this process and anything I went over?”

For more information on Andrew Undem, check out his website.