Selling By Committee? Be The Chairperson

FEATURED IN CRAP-TACULAR

Mr. Crappy Says

Without A Chairperson

Flush a Committee

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I've seen more than my share of home sales go sideways because sellers or buyers listened to family members, or friends, who had no background in real estate.

CONGRATULATIONS Margaret, on having this blog FEATURED in the Old Farts Club group!  

I have helped clients buy and sell that have full committees.  It really can be a challenge if you do not find out who carries the weight.  

Congratulations!  Your post has been featured on BananaTude.

Margaret this is an awesome post!  I have often thought this over the years that we as agents or broker are  the chairperson and must lead accordingly.  I learned this my very first year in the business when learning to work with estate sales and dealing with "too' many siblings that all needed it there way!!  Well folks, do you want this to close or do you all need to be right?  It's not going to work out that way, just saying.  I  actually did say that, in a kind way, but firm way and somehow the 'light bulb' went on for them all.  We got it closed.

Go morning Margaret,

I love this post and love using the term "Chairperson" of the committee! I will remember this as we've all been put in this situation. I like Anna "Banana" Kruchten had to make the same comment to a family of "everyone was right and knew everything." These groups on the committee can be very challenging and you have to take charge right off the bat and let everyone be heard and then lead them! That is part of our job....sometimes you feel like you are herding cattle!!!

Great advise. In many cases it seems every unlicensed  acquaintance, family member etc becomes a real estate expert when someone put their house on the market.

In the book Buyers Are Liars and Sellers Are Too, one of the chapters is entitled "The Parent Trap, Ma and Pa Meddle." A very good post and congrats on the feature. 

Hi Margaret:

This is an excellent analogy. It's important that the Chairperson keep in mind their role in the committee...it is not just to follow their particular agenda but to keep in mind what's in the seller's best interests.

Jeff

This thing about knowing what you want in a way that will make you always have the right level of authority.

Great advise, my friend!  Hope all is well!

Oh - I don't even like to think about committees. When I first left real estate to be a copywriter, I did quite a lot of work for animal rescue groups. That was my passion, so I gave them a cut rate. But boy did I learn my lesson about working with committees.

It was all fine when i had just one person to deal with. But then there were committees. And everyone on a committee would have a different idea about how I should have written their fundraising letter. 

The last one I did... Among other things, one member (the one who had majored in journalism in college) said I could not use contractions. "They are not grammatically correct." Another insisted that I remove the "ask" from the letter. She felt it was tacky to actually ask for the money. 

I said "You paid me a deposit, and we'll call that good. You can make as many changes as you want to this letter, but I'm finished with it."

Excellent advice as always. Thank you for this incredibly important analogy.

Great post Margaret with sound advice!  It's so important to know who is the final decision maker.  Learning that early on will assist with communication and help to provide a smooth transaction!  Love this!