Finding Your Buyer

Can we take it as a given that somewhere out there in the world is the person, couple or entity that is going to buy your property? We don't know who, and we don't know where that buyer is located. Our job is to find him or her or it. How can we do this?

We will advertise your property. We will put it on numerous Internet websites that people use to search for real estate for sale. Surveys tell us that 80 percent or more of people looking for real estate begin their search on the Internet. That's where you want your property to be found.

My company, Michael Dixon Realty, places your listed property on 15-20 Internet websites. It would be hard for anyone looking for property of your type not to find it on the Internet. The best part: it's free.

If we already knew who was going to buy your property, we would contact that buyer immediately and obtain a signed offer for you. Advertising would not be necessary. Listings on the Internet would not be necessary. But because we don't know who, or where, the buyer is we must search for him or her or it. While we are searching for the buyer, the buyer is searching for your property. We may find each other right away, or it may take months. Your buyer may be located within five miles of your property, or may be 500 miles away, or even in another country.

If we accept that your buyer is out there somewhere, it's just a matter of time until we find each other. Again, if we knew the identity of your buyer, we would go straight to him (or her or it) and obtain a signed offer. That offer would be for an amount of money acceptable to you. It would be accompanied by an acceptable amount of earnest money. It would contain an acceptable closing date, and acceptable terms and conditions.

In other words, if we could avoid a long search for the buyer, and could tie up your sales contract with a pretty ribbon, the selling process would be so simple, so profitable and so much fun that you might buy another property and flip it just for the sheer pleasure of selling real estate. What joy. Alas, however, it's not like that. Finding your buyer can be a trying and exasperating experience that drags on and on until you are ready to give up in defeat.

Your REALTOR, meanwhile, is as frustrated as you are. He or she is investing lots of time and effort trying to find your buyer -- and failing week after week. Your REALTOR has a sales commission at stake, a sales commission that doesn't actually exist until he or she closes your sale. But, there will be no closing unless there's a contract, and there will be no contract unless your REALTOR locates your buyer, shows your property, gets an acceptable offer, gets a contract, and guides, prods and coaxes your transaction to a successful close. It doesn't hurt to pray as well.

It has been said, true or not, there's a buyer out there for every property. That means there's a buyer out there for your property. But who? Where? When will your buyer bubble up to the surface and become a reality? Your REALTOR is searching for your buyer. Your buyer is searching for your property. Somehow, some time, they will find each other.