Mortgage Women Magazine

Why Hold Home Seller Seminars?

Because They Are Your Next Home Buyers!

By Karen Deis

MORTGAGE
Magazine.com

Yes, your read the title correctly!

There may be (or not) plenty of home buyer seminars out there. Holding a sellers’ seminar is unique, different, and may get you even more leads.

Why? Because sellers could be your next home buyers!

Sellers don’t totally understand the selling process. Even if they have a real estate agent representing them, you, the loan officer, are considered a “neutral” party. Be careful not to represent yourself as a real estate expert (unless you are one). This event is one where you will bring in speakers and a real estate agent to do most of the talking. Your role is to impress upon them why it’s important to get pre-approved for a mortgage BEFORE they sell their home.

Oh, and there are two great ways to market this event. One that you initiate. One that you co-sponsor with a real estate company.

Speakers

• You • Broker/owner of real estate company**

• Home inspector (could substitute with an appraiser)

• Home stager

**I recommend a broker/owner instead of a real estate salesperson. A broker/owner represents their company, rather than their personal interest in getting listings for themselves.

Content – You may also want to use this outline as slide content for your PowerPoint presentation. Since there will be other speakers, I recommend that they provide screen shots of info to include when creating your PowerPoint slides. However, I want to stress that a PowerPoint presentation alone is not as effective as providing a handout so they can follow along with you (and take it home as a reference tool).

• Challenges home sellers face when qualifying for an-
other home
o Why mortgage rules are different than when they
bought their home
o Should they pay off debts with some of the pro-
ceeds from the sale of their home (illustrate how it
affects ratios)
o How much money is enough for a down payment
o Credit scores
o CFPB waiting periods before closing
• Broker/Owner of real estate company
o Real estate values/trends/days on market
o Sales statistics
o Marketing and advertising tactics
o Offering seller incentives – what other sellers have
offered
o Commissions – how the money is spent
• Home stager
o What buyers look for when viewing homes
o How to de-clutter the home
o Easy ways to update the home (paint, carpeting,
inexpensive upgrades)
o Cost of hiring a stager
• Home inspector
o How a home is inspected
o What they must disclose
o Why get a home inspection before the home is
listed for sale
o Cost of a home inspection report
Each speaker is allotted 15 minutes (equal time) or a total
of one hour.

Marketing – You might be asking yourself—what’s the difference between the Second-time Home Buyer Seminar and a Seller Seminar? While there are many similarities, the second-time home buyer may have already sold a home. They may have lost one in foreclosure. They may have sold a home several years ago and are currently living in an apartment.

With a home seller seminar, they may be at a point where they may be “thinking” about selling and want to know more. Or they have just listed their home. The ultimate goal as a loan officer is to get them pre-approved before they sell, to make sure they don’t end up living under a bridge.

I’m going to repeat the stats from the National Association of Realtors Home Buyers & Sellers Survey (2015)— the “repeat buyer” category makes up 68% of all homes purchased. They outline some important things you need to know about repeat home buyers.