Since our income is (usually) tied directly to closings, many real estate agents wonder how to close deals faster. Faster sales not only allow us to help more clients each year, they also help alleviate some of the stress and anxiety that come with a commission-only career.
Keep reading for expert tips on how to close real estate deals faster, plus ways to make your real estate transactions more seamless.
1. Prospect for highly motivated sellers
Focus your lead generation efforts on finding people who need to sell. I see many agents chasing potential clients who have little or no sense of urgency. While it’s important to help every client when they’re ready, if your goal is to close deals faster, targeting your efforts to find highly motivated leads is key.
Who are these motivated clients? People going through divorce and need to sell (and potentially buy a new place…or two), people moving across the country for a new job and estate/probate sales after someone has passed away are the three most common life stages in which property needs to be sold.
You can find these highly motivated clients by networking with divorce and estate/probate attorneys, HR departments and relocation companies. You can also position yourself as an expert in these life scenarios and use that in your marketing; this will attract motivated clients to you and keep you top of mind for referrals.
One way to speed up the process of finding highly motivated leads (probate leads, specifically) is to leverage a platform that does the work for you. Catalyze AI uses data-driven analytics to predict when a homeowner will be looking to sell. This is a great option if you have a marketing budget and want to target sellers likely to sell in your zip code.
2. Pre-qualify your leads
Honing your pre-qualification process will save you time and energy by ensuring you’re focusing on potential clients who are ready, willing and able to buy or sell soon. Here are some great pre-qual questions to ask, either before your initial appointment or during your buyer/seller consultation:
- Have you been pre-approved by a lender yet, or will you be paying cash?
- What’s your ideal timeframe for moving?
- Do you currently own your home or are you renting? When is your lease up? Do you need to sell first in order to buy?
- Tell me more about why you’re looking to buy/sell now? What about that is important to you?
While you never want to let a lead slip through the cracks, when you’re determining how to prioritize your time and close more deals faster, you will want to focus on potential clients who meet certain criteria. They’re ready to go now (with a pre-approval in hand or proof of funds letter), they are motivated to buy in the next few months and their lease is up or they’re ready to put their house on the market asap.
For leads who are not ready yet, keep in touch with them regularly and provide value such as market updates or off-market listings. That’s your future business!
3. Price your listings at or slightly below market value
Pricing correctly is the absolute best tool in your marketing toolkit and one of the best ways to close real estate deals faster. It’s also the best strategy for getting your seller the best price and terms possible. Win-win!
With very few exceptions, such as ultra-luxury listings, the faster a listing sells, the better the price and terms. Once a listing sits for a while, it gets stale. Days on market accrue. Buyers wonder what’s wrong with it, and they think they can get a deal. We know this because on the buyer side, we look for lingering listings for our buyers who want to get a deal. So be sure to price your listings at market value or even slightly below; this will drive buyer interest and result in a faster sale.
Pro Tip
Of course, the listing price is ultimately the sellers’ decision. Once you educate your sellers on how pricing works and show them real examples (comps), most sellers will agree with an aggressive pricing strategy. If they’re motivated to sell, they will be eager to get the best price in the quickest time and understand that the list price is the marketing price, not necessarily the sale price.
4. Get a price reduction on your listings
If you’re reading this and have listings that are sitting on the market, go get yourself a price reduction. Right now. That’s the quickest way to close a real estate deal fast. You already did the hard work of finding a seller client, securing the listing and marketing it to potential buyers. If it’s not selling, chances are a new price will do the trick.
Show your seller the current market data, including the other active listings (your competition) and guide them to a more aggressive listing price. Who knows, you may end up with multiple offers after a strategic price reduction. I’ve had it happen on my own listings!
5. Follow up on every lead
Another way to close deals faster is to follow up on every lead, specifically every buyer lead for your listings. This proactive approach is vital in markets that are softening a bit or have flipped to buyer markets.
Here’s the gist: after every showing, follow up with the buyer’s agent for feedback and to encourage offers. After every open house, call every direct buyer who came through and every agent who sent their buyer. Be sure to collect the agent’s info when buyers are signing into the open house so you can follow up.
You may think this step isn’t worth doing since any buyer who’s truly interested in your listing will go ahead and make an offer on their own, right? Surprisingly, not always. Take matters into your own hands by proactively following up on every buyer lead for every listing.
This also applies to leads you receive from other sources, such as referrals, online leads and sign calls. “The fortune is in the follow-up” is a common expression for a reason. It’s true. Get more closings faster by following up diligently and persistently with every single lead that comes your way.
6. Pre-market your listings
Sell your listings faster, possibly even before they hit the market, by pre-marketing them. While sellers typically get the most money by going live on MLS, there are instances when an extremely motivated buyer will fall in love with a listing and be willing to pay a premium to get their offer accepted before it hits the market. This also leads to a faster sale for you.
Here’s how my team and I pre-market our listings:
- Post in off-market Facebook groups: These types of coming soon/off-market Facebook groups exist in most markets. If your area doesn’t have one, start one! It’s a great way to get exposure for your listings.
- Call other agents who do a lot of business in the area: This might seem unconventional, but it’s a level of going above and beyond for your sellers to make sure the other top agents know about your upcoming listing.
- Send “Coming Soon” postcards to the neighborhood: You never know – one of the neighbors may have a friend or relative who’s in the market to buy and would love to live near them.
7. Find off-market properties for your buyers
When you have buyers looking and they either aren’t finding homes they like or they’re struggling with being outbid by other buyers, help them find a home faster by searching for off-market properties. This will not only help you close deals faster, it will make you a hero to your buyers and result in future referrals from them.
Here are some strategies for finding off-market properties:
- Send golden letters: This one-page letter is very simple: “I have a buyer looking for a home in your neighborhood. Any chance you’re thinking about selling? If so, call or text me at (number).” Target the areas your buyers want to be in, and you may just get lucky and find them something directly.
- Call the top agents in the area and ask what listings they have in the pipeline: Maybe they’re prepping a listing that would be perfect for your buyers, and the sellers would prefer not to deal with open houses and showings. If you don’t ask, you won’t know!
- Search through the coming soon/off-market Facebook groups: Reach out to any agent who posts a listing that could be a match for your buyers.
- Comb through expired, cancelled and withdrawn listings on MLS: If any of them didn’t end up selling and are a match for your buyers, reach out. You can reach out to the owners directly if it’s an expired or cancelled or call the listing agent on any withdrawn listings.
8. Encourage buyers to use a good lender
Using a solid, trustworthy lender will help you avoid delays in the closing process and close deals faster. In general, I always advise my buyers to work with a local lender or at least a local rep of a national mortgage company, someone whose cell phone number the buyer and I can both have access to. This way, I can make sure most potential delays are avoided, and if something does happen to cause a delay, I’m in the loop and can do everything in my power to move things along.
9. Ask for the sale and be direct
One of the best ways to close deals faster is to be direct in your asks. When you’re working with buyers, ask them directly: “Would you like to work with me as your buyer’s agent?” and “Would you like to make an offer on this home?” When you’re working with sellers, ask for the listing: “Would you like me to help you sell your home?” and ask for the close: “Would you like to accept the buyer’s offer?”
I see many agents let fear get in the way of the direct ask, and that only prolongs the process. If your goal is to close more real estate deals faster, don’t be afraid to get straight to the point.
How to make your real estate transactions seamless
Now let’s get into ways to make your deals close more smoothly, which in turn will help to speed up the process, more often than not. Here are our best tips for making your transactions easier, saving time and reducing stress for all involved.
Communication is key
Always tell your clients the next steps in the process, call them at least once a week and make sure to manage expectations around communication. An example: if you’re negotiating an offer and you know the other agent won’t be getting back to you with a response until tomorrow morning, let your client know they will hear from you midday tomorrow. Give yourself a buffer in case the other agent takes longer than expected.
Prepare clients from day one
Use your buyer and seller consultations to not only find out more about the clients’ situation and goals but also to educate them on the buying and selling process. Most clients are not experts in the process, and even if they’ve been involved in real estate transactions before, chances are it’s been years. Things have changed. So take the time to educate them and prepare them from day one for what’s to come. If you’re in a hot sellers’ market, prepare your buyers for the likelihood of multiple offers. This will save you time and save your clients stress later on in the process.
Encourage your buyers to drive by properties first
Before scheduling 10 showings on a Saturday, encourage your buyers to first drive by any homes they’re considering. This saves everyone time. If the neighborhood, street or even the specific lot the buyers are interested in turns out not to be the right fit, it’s better to know that before doing a private showing.
Remain calm and keep clients calm
One of the biggest values we have as real estate agents is managing our clients’ emotions throughout the transaction. This starts with managing our own emotions. How? Detach from the outcome and keep perspective. You know what to expect, you know how to navigate any issues that arise and you are the guide in the process, not the main character in the story. When (not if) a client gets upset, part of our job is to calm them down and help them work through the issue rationally.
Stay flexible and adaptable
The one constant is change, especially in real estate. Your ability to be nimble and adaptable will help your deals go more smoothly and reduce the stress you may feel. If you haven’t read Marie Forleo’s book “Everything is Figureoutable,” I’d highly recommend it. When something changes or goes wrong, train your mind to ask “ok, how do we fix it or what do we do next?” instead of going straight to “oh s***” – as most of us tend to do.
Hire a transaction coordinator
Transaction coordinators (TCs) are a very practical investment that involves little risk. They are paid per transaction and not hourly, and will help with the paperwork and transaction management, which is a smart move for most agents. A good TC will make sure nothing falls through the cracks and everything goes smoothly in your deals.
Check in with your clients at every stage to see what questions they have
Use your weekly calls with your clients to ask: “What questions do you have for me?” Many clients won’t reach out with their questions since they don’t want to bother us. So it’s important for us to check in with them proactively and regularly and make a point to ask them what’s on their mind. This will make your real estate transactions much smoother and keep your clients calmer, as well.
The full picture
If you’re looking to close more deals and close deals faster, implement the steps above. With some strategic tweaks and intentional communication, you will do more business with less stress along the way.
About Ashley Harwood
Ashley Harwood began her real estate career in 2013 and built a six-figure business as a solo agent before launching Move Over Extroverts in 2018. She developed training materials, classes, and coaching programs for her fellow introverts. Beginning in 2020, Ashley served as Director of Agent Growth for three Keller Williams offices in the Boston metro area. She’s now the Lead Listing agent for the Fleet Homes team in Massachusetts and a regular contributor to Vetted by HousingWire. She created The Quiet Success curriculum and has taught thousands of real estate agents nationwide. She has also been a guest speaker at top industry events and has been named a leading real estate coach by prominent industry publications.