So I can tell you the act of signing a contract triggers a visible physiological effect which says this deal is about to get real.
It’s why I think you should always get offers on a contract.
Of course there are other obvious benefits for buyers and sellers to get offers on a contract.
If you’re just verbally negotiating the buyer can be sceptical the agent is actually taking your offer back to the seller.
If a buyer is hesitant to sign a contract, that’s a sign they’re not serious just yet.
But once a buyer signs a contract you see a change in their physiology. They’re serious now and you see them become excited and nervous. They tell people about it. They post it on Facebook. They start going down the process.
It’s the same as getting married. You might already be in a relationship but when you sign on the dotted line to get married it makes it more real and you get the same excitement and dopamine hit on a physiological level.
So we’ve built our offer process around this. We don’t do ‘expression of interest’ forms at open homes. Throwing bits of paper at people isn’t connecting.
You’re buying a house. It’s supposed to be amazing and exciting. We’re not going to tell you to get your best offer on a piece of paper and submit it by 5pm.
So we designed a ‘buy it now’ option on our website because it actually makes it easier for people at open homes.
Everyone has a smartphone these days so I can send the online property listing to your phone, you scroll down and see the ‘buy it now’ button and you can make an offer online when you’re ready.
We get a lot of online offers at night. Think about it, you do the open, you go home and that night you have a glass of wine (don’t get too drunk) and you decide to make an offer. You can get the ball rolling then and there online.
We can send you the PDF contract and you’ll come into the office to sign it.
We always have contracts at the open but they tend not to get filled out correctly in that environment. Our office team can help step you through how to complete the contract – it’s a big deal buying a house so you want to make sure you fill the bloody thing out right!
And from there our job becomes all about letting the buyer and seller reach an agreement. They’re now bound to each other in terms of a negotiation. They might get $5,000 to $10,000 apart and need us to help them get over the finish line, but most of the time, they’ll get there themselves.
Want a more human approach to buying or selling a house? View our current listings for sale or talk to us about selling.
