As we’ve been discussing, discounts, deals, and financial incentives seem to be what homebuyers expect today. Last time, we discovered how to lead the prospect to agree to allow the preparation of the paperwork and deposit.
So, after preparing the paperwork and obtaining the deposit check, here’s how to proceed toward your goal:
Super Achiever: Mr. and Mrs. Prospect, I appreciate your position and understand you want assurances that this home/homesite is the best value available. I can assure you that this home is an excellent value; however, I can’t assure you that the home will become yours. In all honesty, it would be out of the ordinary for the builder to accept your reduced-price offer. I don’t want to give you false hope or have you disappointed, so how do you feel about devising a “plan B” scenario?
Let’s review the $20,000 amount that you are asking the builder to reduce from the price. I sincerely appreciate your concern and $20,000 seems like a major amount until you break it down. (Hand the prospects a calculator and allow them to work through the math with you.) At today’s interest rates, for every $1,000 you finance, your monthly investment is $7 per thousand financed. (The number will change according to prevailing rates.) That means the $20,000 difference you seek is in reality $140 a month. I realize also that, at first glance, $140 per month seems like a lot; but break that amount down on a daily basis. In a 30-day month, the $140 becomes only $4.67 a day. Mr. and Mrs. Prospect, I bet you spend $4.67 a day on bottled water, a cup of coffee, or other kinds of insignificant items, don’t you? Well, for the cost of these, you can own the brand new home of your dreams.
I know this may seem ridiculous, but if you reflect on it, $20,000 isn’t really that much over the long term. So, as a backup plan, if your offer is not accepted as presented, you’re not going to let $4.67 a day stand in the way of owning the home you really want and deserve, are you?
When presenting the counteroffer to the prospect that evening or the following day, you can soften its impact by translating the counter-amount into a daily figure. Seeing it in a smaller number may speed up their decision-making process and lessen the blow of having to make a concession.
