What Happens When Your Client Falls in Love with A Listing They Can't Get?

Valentine's Day is rapidly approaching.

Love is in the air!

But, have you ever had a client fall in love with a listing they can't get?

Painful, isn't it?

You know the drill. You're showing the fourteenth house of the day. Every freaking house looks the same. No. 14 looks just like the thirteenth, the fifth and probably like the forty-seventh, too.

Yet for some inexplicable reason, as soon as you pull up to the house, someone in the back seat says, 'Hmmmm....'

After fumbling with the lock box, you swing open the door, your clients take one step inside and proclaim, 'This is it! I **LOVE** it!'

Part of your brain wants to think, 'Score! Perhaps the children will have new shoes for school after all.' Another part of your brain screams, 'DANGER! WARNING!'

'Don't fall in love quite yet,' you remind your clients. 'Remember all our previous chats. Lots of things can happen between offer and closing. Don't fall in love....'

Clients: 'Honey, you think the couch will fit over there?' 'Let's measure and find out!'

You: 'Guys. Guys! We haven't even submitted an offer. Do you really think it's prudent to start measuring rooms?'

Clients: 'We could paint that wall over there a contrasting color. And OMG, look! These cabinets are PERFECT!'

The deeper your clients fall in love with the listing, the more your head hurts. For some reason, these things just tend to have a way of not working out.

You: 'Let's talk about submitting an offer. I know you're excited, but let's try to stay emotionally detached.'

Clients: 'I don't care what it takes to get it, I want this house!'

Stop. Breathe. Relax.

You can't stop a person from falling in love with a listing, any more than you can stop a seller from thinking they have the most valuable home in the neighborhood. It's human nature. We're trying to buy something, we see something we love and we want it. Preferably today.

But we're not talking about buying some electronic gizmo at Best Buy where you just grab it off the shelf and whip out the credit card. We are talking real estate where no matter what you do, no matter how experienced you are, transactions implode.

Murphy's Law would seem to dictate that the harder and faster your clients fall in love with a listing, the higher the probability of the transaction going south.

Have those 'remain emotionally detached' conversations repeatedly. Keep your eye on your clients. With practice, you'll be able to pick up that gleam in the eye that indicates love is in the air.

Nip that love in the bud, now. Or else be prepared for 'the call' when you have to tell your clients their love affair is over, before it even had a chance to get rolling.