“Ah, so you saw a house you loved. Come to find out, somebody else loved it too, and they got it first? This happens all the time, and I’m curious - if I found another house that was exactly like that house, or if that house came back on the market, would you want to know about it?”
(If 'yes')
“Unfortunately, here’s what happens a lot. There’s activity happening in a real estate office with agents and brokers every single day. And that activity gets translated to a multiple-listings-system (MLS), and that MLS pushes leads out to all of these different websites. So, depending on which website you are looking at, there can be a significant lag between the day-to-day activity happening in a real estate office and what’s actually happening in your local market and when you actually get the notification on your phone. It could be days sometimes. It’s at least hours, but it could be days. What you’re saying happens all too often. The best situation is - you would’ve wanted to know about that house before it went on the market and everyone else knew about it, so that you would have the opportunity to say no. That’s what you’d want, right?
('Yes')
“This is how I can help you get that. Let’s invest 15 or 20 minutes together to do what we call a ‘buyer’s consultation. It’s going to help me understand what you’re looking for, what your wants and needs are, and what drew you to that home. And then, my job is to network with all of the other agents here in my market and in my office and find that property before it hits the market, or as soon as it hits the market so that the next time around you actually have the opportunity to say no versus the opportunity to say ‘I wish I would have.’ Does that make sense?”