BEACH NOTES ... October 2, 2011 ... Ocean City, New Jersey

Showing Sale Property to Buyers at the Jersey Shore ... from Ocean City, New Jersey

It's not exactly the same process when you show sale property in a resort market like Ocean City, New Jersey. The first major difference is that Buyers are usually making a 2-3 hour drive (or longer) to reach you. That often means they arrive in late morning on a cool, crisp day in October. It also means that you must orchestrate the process with some advanced planning in terms of giving them some participation in the planning, determining what they want to see, etc. Let's think about all of this.

The Buyer tells you that the husband and wife (maybe some children or an older father or mother as well (even had a rabbit along one time who stay in our garage during the showings) is coming along. Let's simplify it to two people for this posting. You have determined with the buyer an appropriate price range for a particular property category (maybe two) and have sent out to the buyer (often by email or mail) complete information and pictures of numerous sale properties for review ... of course, they could also see them on a web-site as well.

You ask them to identify 8-10 selections indicating that you will try to arrange for all of the showings, but sometimes a few will not be available for whatever reasons. You set up a time, and you ask them to meet you at your agency office.

Now there is some work involved in setting up the showings: contacting the agents, getting lock box numbers or keys or any additional showing instructions (pets, alarms, etc.). This should be done a few days ahead of time to avoid last minute problems.

Now you want to organize your showings into some type of format that is best for your particular buyers. I often like to show the best property either first or last. I try to link property category types as close as possible to one another, but I don't want to increase driving time too much. I also like to talk about similar property not for sale now or sold in the past year as we drive along. Finally, I like to schedule a coffee/tea and/or bathroom stop along the way (usually in the middle of the tour).

Finally, on the day of arrival I like to organize a packet that includes all of the properties as well as a front sheet with the entire schedule including a lot of specific information often requested by most buyers as we go along. This "cheat sheet" enables me to provide fast and ready information as requested. It also serves us well in our final phase of the showing process - the debriefing.

Often buyers want to hit and run, but I inform them that we must debrief for a short time ... either in the car, back at the agency, at a final property, whatever. This is where I (and they) try to get some "focus" on what we have done, where we might be going, how fast or slow it might become, etc. An agent can learn a great deal in these debriefing sessions.

And you don't want them to leave without a follow-up plan for you and for them. The resort market buyer may purchase within 1 to 5 years of the first showing. Many plan to buy in a few months, but many others take their time - often a great deal of time. And you want them to return to you at any time in order to be the agent making the sale. dap