23 objections you’ll hear now (and how to handle them)

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This article was last updated Sept. 18, 2023.

Objections, objections. Everyone has them. And in the real estate business, you can run, but you can’t hide, because they are part and parcel of working in this industry.

The more adept you are with confronting and overcoming them with buyers, sellers and other agents, the more confidence you will inspire, the more problems you can solve, the more transactions you will be able to close as well as save from potentially going sideways. 

In 2023, the list of objections has increased due to the shifting market, higher interest rates and economic uncertainty. So, without further delay, let’s tackle the top 23 objections you are likely to hear right now and how to handle them. 

There is too much uncertainty right now with bank failures, the economy and stock market volatility to consider buying or selling real estate. 

While the news can seem unsettling, you have to remember that the media loves to lead with “If it bleeds it leads” kind of headlines and clickbait. There were specific reasons that led to the failures of Silicon Valley and Signature Banks, and those were tied to the tech industry and loosened banking regulations.

This is not 2008 all over again. The end result of these bank failures were two positive things: 1. The Federal Reserve only raised rates by a quarter point and did not commit to more interest rate increases in the future and will monitor the economy going forward and 2. Mortgage rates actually decreased as a result of what happened. This bodes well for buyers who will take advantage of lower rates and decide to buy.  

Interest rates are too high. I’m going to wait until they come down.

You don’t live in an interest rate; you live in a house. You know the saying about the road less traveled? Do the opposite of what everyone else is doing. What are a lot of buyers doing right now? They are waiting for rates to come down to some arbitrary number in their mind that may or may not happen.

We are not going to return to the pandemic interest rates that we got spoiled with over the last few years. The flip side of that is that while rates were low, buyers had to do all kinds of crazy things in addition to going way over asking price to get a home. Do you really want to go back to giving up contingencies, waiving appraisals, accepting a home in a condition that otherwise would have been accounted for in a repair negotiation and letting sellers stay in the property past closing while paying $100,000 over list price?

In the end, things even out. Isn’t it better to make an offer in a less chaotic setting where you may have some leverage with a seller when it comes to negotiating terms that are more balanced? Additionally, interest rate buydowns are a very popular concession that can be negotiated with a seller to lessen your monthly mortgage payment. Let’s discuss with your lender how this works and structure an offer accordingly. 

Prices are going to go down much more. I don’t want to overpay.

We are continuing to be in a low inventory market. [Show the buyer a chart of your local market statistics to help illustrate this point.] Overall, inventory remains low, and while prices for some properties have had adjustments, we are not erasing the gains we have made over the last three years.

Properties that are overpriced for their condition and/or location, need work and don’t show that well are the ones seeing price reductions. But what I am seeing is that when a property is adjusted to the right price, it can actually spur multiple offers.

Give examples of recent situations in your marketplace that you are aware of to help make the case to the buyer. Share with them what open house traffic has been like or if you were showing a property and encountered other buyers looking at the same time. If you or a colleague was recently involved in a multiple offer situation, tell the story of how that played out and what the outcome was.

Send the buyer summaries of active, under contract and recently sold listings within the last 60-90 days that illustrate the percentage of asking prices the properties are selling for. This will help give the buyer real, hyperlocal perspective as it relates to your market, not some national headline. 

I would sell but where would I go? I only want to sell if I can find something to buy where I want to be. 

It’s always good to have a plan, and my job as your agent is to help you come up with one. I live by the adage, “Information is priceless; knowledge is power,” so let’s plug into what you need to know in order to make this decision.

Given the climate of low inventory, you have a very good chance of being able to command a strong sales price for your home. Let’s walk through potential options to buy as well as rent if needed from short-term rentals to longer-term options.

There are some terms we may be able to negotiate with a buyer, such as making an offer contingent upon your finding a replacement property or putting a leaseback option in place for an agreed-upon period of time to make the transition a bit easier. 

I want to sell but don’t want to go on the MLS, don’t want photos, open houses or other marketing. Can’t you just put the word out to agents and people you know? 

Let’s discuss why you feel that way. While I understand the concerns about exposure and privacy, the reality is that properties have the best chance of selling when they’ve been able to garner the most exposure. The goal is to create a sense of urgency because urgency leads to action. When a property is not publicly on the market, people may appear interested but think they can take their time in deciding because the property is not “out there” for all to see.

In addition, there are rules in place that promote “clear cooperation” to prevent “pocket listings” or “off-market properties” from being promoted. If you don’t want to be listed in MLS, then you will need to sign an exclusion form and the only agents who I can promote the property to are those from my brokerage.

If I do any promotion of your property to agents from outside my brokerage, clients, my network as well as on any social media channels, I could be subject to a very hefty violation, along with exposing my brokerage to liability and unintended ill will, as they are responsible for the acts of their licensees.

My ethics and integrity are very important to me. The process has become more complicated than it may seem from a consumer’s point of view, and the basis for the Clear Cooperation policy is to ensure everyone — agents and consumers alike — have equal access to properties for sale. This in turn will benefit you by providing the most exposure possible to X number of agents in our Realtor associations and beyond. This will also allow me to aggressively market your property to my network of contacts as well as sphere of influence.

As a result, this will generate the best price and terms for you and a faster process. With regard to privacy concerns, there are certainly some things we can do to help make you more comfortable with the process. All potential showings will be vetted, and showings will be by appointment only. I can be present or have someone on my team there for all showings, and we can discuss in what way you feel most comfortable to access the property.

We don’t have to take photos of every room if you prefer, but I would suggest the main living areas that people tend to be interested in the most. If there are valuables of concern, those should be removed for photos and placed for safekeeping. We don’t have to have a “For Sale” sign, broker events or open houses if you aren’t interested. But if you would like some kind of specific event to attract buyers, I can do a small, private, invitation-only open house to agents who legitimately may have a buyer for the kind of property you have and invite them and their prospective clients for showings during a certain day and time.

Being formally listed can have numerous advantages, and we will find a way to navigate through this so that it is a win-win for both of us. We are on the same team working towards the same cause. 

I don’t want a lockbox.

Depending on the property, a lockbox may or may not be the best option. But, if the immediate competition has them, and your property does not, it may slow down the showing process and make it more difficult to see. And guess what? Agents and buyers don’t like to spend time trying to see homes that aren’t easily accessible.

They are usually seeing several others and their time is limited. They aren’t going to be able to rearrange their schedule to see your property when they have five or six others they are looking at in various neighborhoods.

If you aren’t comfortable with a lockbox on the outside of the front door, then perhaps you could put it out when there is a showing. The one potential drawback to that is you could forget to do so or a request comes up at the last minute that we want to accommodate, but cannot because you aren’t home to put it out.

Think of this like customers going into a store. When you want to go in a store, you want to go during the hours you know that they are open. Showings are very much like that. While we can set a showing schedule and request advance notice by agents, which can be as much as 24-hour notice, 12 hours, six hours, etc., there is always the possibility of a last-minute showing request.

Perhaps a buyer has fallen out of contract on another home, the offer they put in didn’t get accepted or they just found out they have to relocate and have come into town on short notice. We want to be able to accommodate those requests.

Let me show you how a lockbox works in real-time and explain how we manage agents showing them. A showing appointment will always be made and will need to be confirmed. Agents won’t just be showing up without an appointment. Further, I can program the lockbox so we both receive an email in real-time as to who is accessing it and when, so there will always be a system of checks and balances. 

I only want to go through the listing agent for properties I’m interested in buying.

So, let me ask you why you want to do that. Is the idea that you think you will save money on the purchase by doing so? I would like to enlighten you, as I have been in this situation as a listing agent and had potential buyers approach me for this same reason. As a seller’s agent, they are hired by the seller to represent their interests and obtain the highest price and best terms. When a buyer wants to work through the listing agent, it puts that agent in a precarious professional position.

The expectation is the buyer feels entitled to a discount on the property as well as other potential concessions. In many cases, the seller has to consent to allow their agent to represent both sides and neither they nor their agent may be comfortable with that. Some brokerages don’t allow this practice to minimize the risk of liability because invariably, one party feels that their interests weren’t represented or advocated for as strongly in the transaction. And guess who the party that feels that way wants to sue?

The bottom line is one party may come away from the transaction feeling like they got the short end of the stick. Both buyer and seller may pressure the listing agent to cut corners in various ways because they think they are making a tremendous amount of money. In reality, when all is sliced and diced, it is not the sum that you think it is when you consider their time, effort, legwork and money spent on the listing process.

Many listing agents don’t feel comfortable taking this on as they are doing double the work for a greatly reduced fee, when in fact there should be no reduction in the commission at all unless the listing agent has negotiated something with the seller about this. The agent has to manage both the buyer and seller in ensuring both parties do what is required to get to closing, which is quite involved.

An agent never knows how a transaction is going to go until they are in it. There are always unanticipated problems and gotchas at every turn and we never really know how the buyer and seller will be to work with until we are in the middle of it. 

We are going to sell our house ourselves. Besides, we’ve had a lot of luck with that in the past, and online websites tell us all we need to know. We have always had homes that people want.

That’s great you’ve had success in the FSBO space in the past. Markets change, dynamics change, and situations change. The real estate transaction has gotten more complex and is more nuanced than ever. Do you really want to handle the single largest transaction you have likely ever made yourself? Would you try your own case in court? Or perform surgery on yourself? This is what this is akin to doing.

Do you know how to navigate the offer package [show them all forms along with all the potential addendums] to ensure that your interests are protected accordingly? The biggest liability with a buyer or seller trying to handle a real estate transaction on their own is they don’t know what they don’t know and what they don’t know can actually cost them more money vs. saving them money.

How will you vet those interested in seeing your home? Do you know the difference between a serious buyer and one who is simply curious with no timeframe? It can be quite awkward trying to have those conversations as an owner.

How will you follow up with those buyers? Will you allow agents to bring buyers? How do you plan to handle negotiating an offer and managing the transaction to ensure the buyer moves through contingencies in a timely manner? What if there are repair issues? Financing issues? Appraisal issues? Selling a home is 99 percent problem-solving more than anything else, and that’s why you want to hire an agent: To be your problem solver-in-chief. 

Trying to test the waters by selling your home yourself is like playing a game of chess where you don’t know the rules. What you perceive as saving money may end up costing you more in the end. Where do you think you have more leverage: When the property is exposed to [insert number of agents in your marketplace] or unvetted “prospects?” And if the prospects don’t have an agent, that’s a recipe for disaster.

This can become like the blind leading the blind. Typically buyers who don’t work with agents are also after the same discount you perceive you are getting by not having an agent represent you. In the end, there’s no one to defend your asking price, so you end up giving up much more than you needed, had you worked with an agent in the first place.

Will you reduce your commission or share part of it with me if I use you to buy a home or to buy and sell? 

Let me ask you something. May I ask what you do for work? How are you compensated? Are you paid a salary? If so, how often? Am I entitled to know how much you make? What would you tell me if I asked you that question? And if you did tell me the number, what if I asked you to share X percent of your paycheck with me for doing your job? How would you react to that? 

I do not have permission to reduce or share commissions because commissions are payable to my broker, not me, and they decide how much money they will pay me from the gross amount. They have to take some of the commission to keep the lights on at the office and cover their operating expenses with staff support, marketing and compliance. Out of the portion I get, I have to set aside money to pay for taxes, Social Security and for retirement contributions.

So, unlike the payroll vendor your employer uses, I have to do my own withholding. After those amounts have been set aside, I am left with what I can use to live on and support myself, my family and of course, my job, which is entirely commission-based. If something doesn’t go to closing, I don’t get paid. No time, effort or money expended by me on the front end is earned until something closes. 

In addition, you are asking me to commit to a reduction in compensation which I haven’t received, nor do I know what it will be. The co-op commissions on properties vary quite a bit and have been steadily decreasing. So even if I could find a way to share compensation with you, there is no way I can commit to giving up my broker’s cut as well as my paycheck when I don’t know what the amount will be.

Further, I have no idea the degree of work involved in securing a property as well as what issues we will encounter once you go under contract. Every property and transaction has a unique set of challenges. 

Can you discount your fee to list my house? Other agents said they would do it for less.

This is one of the oldest objections in the book that you will repeatedly encounter. There are several ways to take this one on, depending on the seller and the situation. You may have to incorporate parts of this and relate a few stories to help illustrate your point of situations where someone went with a discounter only to hire a full-service broker when their home wasn’t selling, being marketed properly, nor managed in a detailed and hands-on manner. 

With all due respect, let me explain to you how the compensation works on both the listing and selling sides. The commission is simply the compensation, or paycheck if you will, that the brokerage participating in the transaction will earn once a property sells and goes to closing. If it doesn’t close, I don’t get paid, nor does the other agent that brought the buyer. I could work tirelessly for you for months, and we could go through several offers before finding a buyer that sticks.

This is especially the case in today’s market where buyers may be feeling uncertain about the economy and their personal situation. While they know they need to buy a property for a variety of reasons, things can happen that can lead them to cancel or get cold feet, and there is a bit of that going around right now. Trying to get a deal to stick is much more difficult today than it was a few years ago. 

So, let’s look at how the commission is handled in a real estate transaction. On the listing side, I charge [X] amount and this is to cover my time, marketing expenses, travel to and from the property for prep and sale activities, the photo and video shoot, open houses, private showings and any other events I need to be present for which could include inspections, the appraisal, meeting contractors, coordinating repairs and the final walkthrough or pre-final walkthrough, etc.

On the buyer side, you can choose what you want to offer. In reviewing listings that are considered your immediate competition, we see sellers offering agents who bring the buyer [X], [Y] and [Z] amounts. So, while the amount of compensation you would like to offer is your own decision, my professional insight is for you to offer [X] amount in order to be competitive with other properties in your price range.  

I would love to work with you, but I have to work with my aunt, uncle, best friend, 10th cousin.

Loyalty is important, and that’s great that you feel allegiance to your family member/friend/cousin, etc. However, loyalty and representation are two different things.

Your loyalty may end up compromising your ability to successfully buy and/or sell. Despite the market shift, it is still an extremely competitive landscape due to low inventory and multiple offers.

Is your relative or friend local to the area you are looking? Are they “in the know” in the areas you are looking? Are you kept up to date with any “off-market” properties anyone in their office may have access to? Are they actively out there each week networking with other agents and previewing the inventory for you? 

The reason I ask this is these are things an agent representing you with extraordinary effort should be doing. Passively setting you up on an automatic MLS feed is not active representation. There is a difference between using an agent and allowing one to represent you. And in this market, representation matters. So as not to discount their connection or involvement with real estate, I would be glad to pay them a referral fee of [X] amount, so they still get something and the upside is they don’t have to do any of the work.  

I only want to buy if it’s a deal.

Ok, so let’s discuss what that means. What’s considered a deal to you in today’s market? Is that realistic? While you are waiting for the perceived “deal of the century,” you could be missing out on what you really want.

And guess what? If it’s a “deal,” you aren’t going to be the only one vying for the property. There is a good chance there will be multiple offers and it may go over asking price.

For what you want, if properties are selling at [X] percent of asking price, have an average days on market of [X] and there is an absorption rate of [X] and have less than [X] months supply, what do you think your chances really are of finding something below the statistics for kind of property you want in the area(s) that you want?

And what kind of leverage do you have based on how you want to pay for the house? Do you only have so much cash or will you need a loan? 

If I don’t sell by [X] time or get the price I want, I want to take the property off the market and will wait.

Ultimatums do not magically make things happen on your timeline. We have largely shifted away from an instant offer climate, unless the home is truly turnkey and well-priced. Buyers are taking longer to make decisions, and many buyers currently in the market have been looking for quite some time. Numerous buyers have lost out in multiple offer situations over the last couple of years or have been overly picky.

There are some buyers who are simply looking for what does not exist. That being said, it is still a great time to sell your home to take advantage of low inventory. There are no guarantees about what the future will bring, except your property will be that much more dated vs. what it will be competing with a few years down the road.

If the home will need any repairs, upgrades or improvements, those are things you will have to budget for and some things may not be able to be deferred such as replacing the roof, HVAC, water heater, repiping, etc. 

No one knows what the future holds, and things are always changing. We can’t predict the market, the economy or interest rates. You never know what specifics may affect the market at the time you want to try to sell again. Things like insurance costs, weather — floods, fires and hurricanes (discuss this if this pertains to your locale) — could affect values. There could be an abundance of new construction to compete with.

Now is still a great time to sell given low inventory and overall strong buyer demand. No matter if you sell now or a few years from now, the basics don’t change; you need to be priced right for your property’s condition. It won’t magically appreciate by doing nothing and we aren’t looking at tremendous gains like we experienced during the pandemic. Appreciation is never guaranteed and may be more gradual than anything else. 

I just want to sell ‘as-is’ and not have to bother with any prep-for-sale work. 

This is easier said than done. Unless you are willing to price your home at a fire sale price, it can be very difficult in today’s market to get buyers excited about a property that hasn’t been properly prepared for sale.

While you don’t have to necessarily remodel it, there are several things you can do that are relatively easy and inexpensive. Cleaning, pressure washing, organizing, decluttering, trimming trees and bushes, freshening up landscaping and changing out light bulbs to a brighter wattage can make a huge difference.

If you want to go a bit further, there are simple upgrades like changing out plumbing fixtures, upgrading appliances and even a countertop. If your home has not had a roof, HVAC or water heater replaced, but needs one or all of these, you need to seriously consider taking care of this before you list.

It has gotten increasingly difficult today for buyers to obtain insurance if these things have not been updated. Insurance costs have dramatically risen, and insurance companies no longer want to take on risk, and to do so for them means they are gauging the consumer. 

In addition, simple preparation may yield you a much stronger sales price vs. leaving money on the table. That being said, we can certainly negotiate with a buyer that the property will convey “as-is,” but should the inspection reveal something major, you are likely going to have to deal with it in some way.

Something you may want to strongly consider is having a pre-listing inspection to vet any issues before they come up on a buyer’s report. Wouldn’t you rather find out on your time and terms and determine how you want to handle it? 

I only want to sell if I can get [X] number.

This has long been a popular seller objection. Some of the most stubborn or firm sellers love to use this as an ultimatum of sorts, essentially having the agent work against themselves, especially if the listing is overpriced. In the pandemic market we’ve had over the last three years, agents could overprice and stretch beyond reality and sellers were getting those prices. Now, it’s a different story.

It is important to explain that when a market adjusts and is normalizing, as we are now, coupled with higher interest rates, pricing can no longer be aspirational, unless the property is something that is highly unique, bespoke and in the ultra-luxury space where the price matters less vs. what that property offers for a potential buyer.

For the “bread and butter” properties for everyday buyers, and even some in the more “basic” luxury price points (just because it is a $2 million home, it may be dated or functionally obsolete), price is ultimately a range, and buyers determine the price they are willing to pay. 

Outline the strengths and potential barriers to reaching the price the seller wants and explain why. If the home is on the more dated side, tell them that in order to command top dollar, you would need to have X, Y and Z done and provide an estimate of the cost of the type of renovation needed to take things up to buyer expectations in this price range.

Show them examples to demonstrate this point and show them homes that sold for less than what the seller wants that are similar to theirs. Contact the listing and selling agents of comparable properties that are on the market, under contract and recently sold to get their feedback on what they are seeing and have experienced.

Offer to take the seller to preview the direct competition; otherwise, they will suffer from what I call “disconnect disease” as they won’t correlate the data to their property personally. Once they see it in person, it often changes their perception.  

I will get preapproved after I see what’s available. I know what I can afford. 

Well, it doesn’t quite work like that. Today’s sellers and their listing agents have a right to expect that the buyers seeing their properties on appointment/agent-brought showings are vetted and verified by the agent bringing them. There is a responsibility on behalf of all buyers to take the time to be preapproved by a mortgage lender, discuss various loan options and programs, and crunch numbers to ascertain what price range and payments are most comfortable.

Let me ask you, if you had your home up for sale, would you want to know that the people coming to see it could realistically afford it? Is that a reasonable expectation?

In addition, the stakes are higher today when a seller accepts an offer and the home goes under contract. Realistically, showings stop upon acceptance of an offer and precious time is lost if ultimately the buyer can’t qualify. So while it’s a good thing a seller negotiates to accept an offer, it’s actually also a risk at the same time if the buyer’s finances aren’t buttoned up.

There can be financial “gotchas” looming that only are revealed when a buyer is trying to get approved for financing or the buyer does something like making a major purchase while under contract, which can jeopardize their ability to qualify. There may be a credit card balance that has to be paid down or paid off, and the buyer is surprised to find that out.

My point is, buying a home takes some financial planning along with the use of a mortgage professional, so it is helping you not to waste time by understanding what’s involved.  

It’s too early to start looking for a home.

While it may seem too early to start looking six months or even a year before you want or have to move, the reality is there is a shrinking pool of inventory available. This means fewer choices in one’s price range and there is still competition for homes.

It may take several attempts to successfully secure a home and this can take several months when factoring in that there may not be an abundance of inventory. In addition, you might decide to pursue new construction and that could mean building from scratch or plugging into a spec home at varying stages. This will require additional time, so my advice is, it is never too early to start considering your options.

You may need to work out some details with your current situation, such as selling your existing home or dealing with a lease, and that doesn’t always happen overnight. The more time you can give yourself, the smoother the transition will be.  

I want a move-in ready home and don’t want to do any work.

No matter the price point, this is what most buyers want. However, the reality is that it’s likely not going to be possible. There is always something that you will find in a home that you don’t like or want to change. You could also be paying a premium for someone else’s renovations that are poorly done that you don’t like and ultimately have to redo. So my advice is don’t buy with your eyes too much.

There are a lot of properties that when you look a little closer, are essentially lipstick on a pig and others that have really good bones, are on a great lot in a good location and, while liveable, may need some updating.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and houses aren’t updated in that timeframe either. There is nothing wrong with living in a home and making updates over time. Plus, what you think you wanted to do may change once you move in.

It is important to remain flexible and not let the market pass you by. Markets move in bands of time, and you could miss out and end up paying more for a similar property that you originally bypassed because you felt it needed too much work. 

It is costing more to buy due to interest rates now, therefore sellers need to come way down on their price if I make an offer.

I can understand the additional costs associated with a mortgage payment now, however sellers are pricing their homes in accordance with recent active, under-contract and sold comps in a neighborhood. Prices have softened a bit compared to last year, and are not dramatically increasing as rapidly as they were. Sellers understand that their home may not go under contract within hours of it coming on the market, and most are prepared to negotiate within reason.

An important focus of a negotiation is not just the purchase price, but also what your monthly payment will be. There are ways to move through a negotiation with a seller where they don’t have to significantly reduce their price, but can give you concessions towards an interest rate buydown and/or your closing costs and prepaids. This can help lower your monthly mortgage payment and save out-of-pocket costs, which can make the home more affordable.  

The offer is too low to counter.

In a cooling market with fewer buyers who are reacting to higher interest rates and economic uncertainty that is continually propagated in 24/7 news cycles, you can’t take it personally where a buyer decides to start. If you were a buyer making an offer in this market, what would you do? Would you offer full price or close to it right off the bat? The tides have turned after buyers having no leverage over the last few years.

I always say it is not about where you start, but where you finish and an offer is simply an invitation to get a conversation going. A buyer is always going to see the glass half empty and a seller will see the glass more than full, no matter the asking price.

There is no harm in making a counter to see where this can go. But, to prematurely decide to not respond is not giving yourself a fair chance to try to make the offer work. If you give a good counter, you are likely to get a respectable counter back from the buyer.

Given the current climate, we don’t know if or when our next offer will be. The offer you turn down today could end up being your price reduction tomorrow. 

The seller didn’t counter our offer or barely countered. Why should we bother responding? 

While it may seem discouraging, this is not an unusual reaction and can happen. Sellers always think their home is worth more than the market does. Agreements are always a matter of compromise and often times it takes some back and forth to bring things together. We have come this far to write an offer.

We have tested the waters with your initial price and we know that we need to improve upon that. It was a bit ambitious and perhaps unrealistic, but you wanted to try it so we did. Now, if you want this house, we need to show the seller you are serious and the best way to do that is to improve upon your offer. We will know in the next go around based on their response if this looks like we can put this together. We have nothing to lose by trying.

We are still watching the market of course, and should something else come up that you wish to pursue while we are waiting on a response from the seller, you can do that as that is leverage in your favor. The seller may lose you as a buyer if they wait too long to respond or don’t seem to want to work it out. 

If it is meant to be it will be. Let’s pray about it.

These are some of my favorite objections I’ve heard over the years. A buyer or seller go in with an unrealistic offer or counter and essentially throw a dart (and caution to the wind) to see what may stick. I’m a spiritual person as much as the next person and while I do believe in the power of prayer, I also believe in reality. To these kinds of remarks, I say:

While I respect that, I also believe that in a real estate transaction, you absolutely can impact the outcome. If you make a low offer in a competitive offer situation, or just stick to full price when you are getting a loan and won’t shorten or limit contingencies plus asking for the seller to pay closing costs, asking for all of the seller’s patio furniture and the washer and dryer that was not conveying, what do you think is going to happen. We can intentionally or unintentionally self-sabotage because we may have a fear of getting what we want. So we don’t do what we need to do and say “If it’s meant to be it will be.” 

You may need to experience writing numerous offers and getting them rejected a few times before you start to see things differently. Just getting in to see a home, running down information in response to your questions and racing to get your offer submitted time after time, in addition to getting an updated preapproval letter if the initial one expired, can get exhausting. Eventually, you’ll get worn out from this approach and when you are truly ready to make your purchase happen, you will. 

Now, in my view, when you are giving it 110 percent with every offer you make, coming in strong and being strategic about price and terms within your financial capacity and you aren’t the winning buyer, I can understand that those homes may not have been meant for you. If the home inspection reveals major repairs or conditions that are going to be extremely costly to repair and might be a problem that will never go away, such as a foundation issue, then I can also echo the sentiment that the property wasn’t meant to be.  

The market is too competitive. We will just keep renting, because it is cheaper than owning and we don’t have to deal with all the hassles. 

As agents, we can certainly feel the buyer’s pain on this one as we have lived in this movie, too. After losing out on offer after offer, they, along with us, are feeling defeated and exhausted. Continual rejection isn’t fun. To try to keep them in the game, this is where a cost-of-waiting chart is very helpful.

Ask your lender partner if they can create one along with a rent vs. buy scenario based on the price range they are looking at, factoring in their downpayment and loan scenarios. These charts do a really good job illustrating the money the buyer is essentially throwing away paying someone else with nothing to show for it when they keep renting.

They have already missed and are continuing to miss the opportunity to gain some equity. In the meantime, prices continue to go up, and they are chasing the can down the road. 

Demonstrate to them how they will be caught in a bitter cycle with this pattern unless they break it. Do they really want to continue renting and making someone else rich who has control over their living situation, including what they pay along with the condition of the place? It’s OK until there is a problem — a roof or plumbing leak, for example, is not fun. They may have to move out, and the landlord may not cover all expenses as they thought.

For every property they bypass writing an offer on because of their lease, they will look back and realize what a good deal it seemed at the time, and realize they won’t see that deal again. 

Objections can throw you for a loop, and there will be a new one every time. There are a variety of ways to respond, but the key is to make your response authentic, incorporating your unique style and voice.