KGCI: Real Estate on Air - The Art of Setting Expectations for a Perfect Client Experience

Episode Date: March 22, 2026

Summary:This episode provides a tactical guide on how real estate agents can master the art of setting and managing client expectations to ensure a smooth, stress-free transaction. The host breaks down the key conversations agents must have with buyers and sellers from the very beginning of their relationship. The discussion offers actionable advice on communicating market realities, outlining the transaction process, and proactively addressing potential issues to build trust and prevent misunderstandings.

And welcome to the nerdy agent podcast. I'm your host, Luke Pedersen, with my brothers and fellow nerds, Josh and AJ. When are we going to get new chairs? Yeah, these chairs are pretty brutal. I agree. We've got to build a wall first. Ask Ryan. We've got to build that wall.

Mooney's in charge. Mooney's in charge. I'll talk to Mooney. We need to get out. I need to touch my feet to the ground. I had to hand my coffee to Luke so I could get into my chair properly. So much spinning. I realize that if you press into the stand, you can rotate nice.

Four months ago, four months ago, we got the lease on the new building. And I was like, let's record the podcast over there. And the thought was, well, how are we going to do that? Well, let's just grab some of these spinny chairs from over in the kitchen. And it's been four months. And we still are in these chairs. Wayfair special. Oh, my gosh.

Can't believe it. This week, we were going to talk about. setting expectations for your clients, specifically buyers, but I think setting seller expectations is really important as well. To start though, before we give them kind of an idea on what you should talk about with the different sets of sellers and buyers, can you guys give us an idea on why expectation setting is important to not only know like the expectations to set, but also why it's better for the clients. I tell every buyer that I interact with,

my goal is for you always to have an understanding of what you're walking into throughout this process. I want you to never be surprised by anything, right? So whether that is an expectation of how the first showing is going to go or how the offer writing stage is going to go or how things work once you're under contract, I want to be proactive with you to ensure that you know what you're getting into and you're never feeling surprised.

The reason for that is twofold, one, I'm doing my job and helping guide them through the process effectively when I do that. But secondarily, setting those expectations up front helps ensure you minimize stress and you minimize anxiety in what would otherwise be a relatively high stress, high anxiety process. And so I think it's highly important for their mindset. so they're making well thought out decisions. But also it just is what I feel is the bare bones of me doing my job

because if I'm not minimizing stress and anxiety throughout the process, then I'm not doing my job the way I feel I should be. And I think the big, I talked about this week at the team meeting, but perception is such an important part of any transaction, any decision anybody's making. And so when you don't frame the picture for them, they have no perception of what to expect. And let's say they get to the inspection and they haven't been prepared for what that's going to look like.

Well, then their perception of how that went is going to be a lot different than had they been prepared for even just like five things that you pointed out that are for sure going to come up on the report or of the scariness of that. So I think creating the picture, painting the picture for them of what's next goes a really long ways. And that's what expectation setting is all about. Talk about what your steps are as far as like, because the expectations you said obviously can be specific to the client based on their situation. But what are, what are the most important, let's say, the top three expectations that should be set with a buyer? I don't want to say should be, but the top three, wow. The top three. Yeah. I mean, I just that you set, that you set with a buyer to ensure that their experience is going to be as good as possible. The first time I talked to

somebody in the phone when they reach out and say, hey, I'm thinking about buying a house and they haven't bought one before. The first expectation I said is, well, I just say, I'm going to find a time for us to sit down and talk through the whole process in detail prior to seeing any houses with you because I feel it's highly important that you understand everything that's going to happen through this process proactively and have the ability to ask questions so you know even what you'd be getting into if you decide to continue on this journey and know with confidence that you feel like this is the right thing for you. Expectation there, I would say, is not only one that you're like going to force them to sit down and actually meet with you to talk through it, but two, that you're

going to be the one that's going to give them the valuable information that they need. Yes. Because you're saying, like, I know what you need to do and I'm going to show you how to do that. And I'm going to learn a little bit about you to see if, you know, there are certain other expectations that I then need to set. It's a starting point to gather enough information to know exactly what we need to focus on moving forward. And then secondarily, I'd say the next biggest one. Wait, I have a story. So yesterday I met with, I got a referral for a client who might be moving here from Portland. Like they don't even know.

They know nothing about Minneapolis. They want to live in Minneapolis. They're trying to get an idea on the area. And they were like, we just want to come and tour some houses just to see the insides and get an idea on like, what's going on with these old 1900 houses? And I was like, that's great. We should just sit down for like for 30 to 45 minutes prior so we can at least talk through it. They bought their last place in Portland.

They bought a condo. So I sit down. I kind of go through it. But I, the buying process, I condensed. Like I talk about that for like 45 minutes. That means I condensed it into like 20 minutes because I was like, I know you don't even know if you're moving here, but I just want to make sure you at least have like a rough idea. I got through it.

And I was like, I know that was pretty quick. Like we'll go more in depth what you, once you kind of figure out your strategy. And they were like, that was a lot more than we got when we bought our. place in Portland. Yeah. I was like, what, did your agent just, the agent literally probably just open the door, open doors and then asked him, which one they wanted to offer on? Here we go.

Let's go see some houses. And then which one do you want to offer on? Didn't give any guidance, didn't give me any valuable information. Yeah, it's, like I said, we, it's the bare bones of what I think we should be doing as agents is setting expectations and informing people of what they need to know. It's why we'd start doing this podcast because we felt like there was a need for more information out there on how agents should engage with clients. actually be good at their job.

Yeah. And so the second thing that I would say is at that first meeting, I tell them, I set expectations for how showings are going to go with me. So I tell them, my job as your agent is to ask you a lot of questions so I can learn a ton about you and what you're looking for and really be able to play the role of matchmaker that I feel is highly important in my job. And I'm going to point out everything that's wrong with this house. I'm not doing that to tell you that this is a terrible house.

but I want you to be really well informed about what you're walking into when you're walking into a decision. And on the questions and the matchmaking side, in that role, I also tell them, for that first set of showings, I want to do about four showings. And I'm going to make them a variety of different things so that all the things that you're telling me in this first meeting that you need in your house, we can test and see what's most important, maybe what's less important than you thought it was. maybe it's something you hadn't thought about that's more important than you realized

because that's going to allow us all to get a really good sense of what the perfect house is for you. And as I start pointing out things that are wrong with the house, you might realize, oh, there are some things that I thought were really important that maybe there's problematic now that I don't really want anymore. Do you have any expectations that are different than his first two but isn't the third big one, which is the inspection? Yeah, I think inspections. Yeah, we can talk about that.

I think just preparing people, that, I mean, I talk about our good friend growing up who just went at breakneck pace, even though I gave him this proper expectation. Just letting them know that being ready for the next step is very important at each step of the process. And I think I'll, like a little sidebar, but the end result and how happy or like how likely they are to say five stars

for the process is a direct reflection on the agent most of the time. So if the agent doesn't do all these things, they get to the end and they may have reached the same result. Like this is what's funny, I think, is a lot of buyers reach the exact same result that they would have had they worked with me or you guys or anybody else who's really good at setting these expectations. But they aren't quick to say five stars because the whole process was like murky, muddy. They didn't know what was coming. They were stressed out the entire time. They got to the exact same point. It's just the road was different.

And so they didn't enjoy it as much. And they remember it as a stressful and not joyous time for them in their life when if they would have just done it properly, same result. But the experience would have been so much better. This is not an expectation setting, but it's something that I try and follow with all my clients. I always try and make it so that I'm reaching out to them before they're reaching out to me. Yeah.

That solves that problem. Because if they reach out to you with a question, you should have already reached out to that with the answer. because we know what the questions are going to be. It's just whether or not you're proactive enough to be ahead of it. Yeah, I guess we're kind of talking more buyer's side right now. We're going to get to sellers. Oh, yeah.

So the only other one other than the big one that I want to mention is you should probably also set an expectation on what the market's going to look like based on their specific situation. I mean, everybody's doing something different, whether it's a listing, a buyer, first-time-home buyer, move-up buyer. All the markets are different to an extent. In the Twin Cities, it's more similar. But if you're in, you know, Boise, it's probably a little bit different. and you should set the expectation what that should look like.

So they have an idea and they're not way off because a lot of people are reading the news, whether it's national or whatnot. And it's probably not a good depiction of what your local market is. And you should be educated enough on the pockets within your market to understand how to set that expectation for them properly in that first meeting. So as you were talking to them and they're going, I want to live here with this type of a house at this price point, being able to immediately have your brain. go, okay, that's going to be really competitive. So I'm going to talk about X, Y, and Z in terms of the offer process that you're going to probably need to use to be successful during the offer. Or I'm going to say, okay, yeah, you're kind of a unique buyer. So your needs might be a little bit

different than what the general market is doing right now. So we'll probably have more opportunities to find you a house with a little less competition. Or maybe it will take longer because what you're looking for is less likely to crop up. That's kind of the thought process there. But Be educated on all of that. The last big expectation setter then is the inspection. Do you want to hammer it? I mean, like at the buyer meeting, I'll prepare them that this is the very worst day of the whole process. I think the key there, though, is knowing houses, I know we hammer on it all the time,

but knowing houses mitigates a lot of these problems because if you don't know houses, you may sell them a house that is probably going to be a terrible inspection. And even though you may prepare them that the inspection is going to be terrible, you may find several things that are like almost deal breakers during that process and that will lead to more cancellations. And I firmly believe that more cancellations for buyers or sellers is just going to lead to a less likely, joyous, happy outcome for them. If they cancel on three transactions before buying something, they're going to remember how difficult that journey was. So being able to rule houses out for them based on certain things is pretty important. But also just preparing them, hey, this day is going to suck.

here's what your options are going to be. And then after the buyer meeting and you go out and do showings and you're doing that preparation work like Josh said, I'm going to point out all the stuff that's wrong. I'm going to point all that stuff that's wrong. They find a house. You try to rule it out. They say no. They want to buy it. They make an offer.

You get to the inspection period. I send a text message that has the exact same language that I told them in the buyer meeting of this day is going to suck. I know you're excited about this house. So this inspector is just going to rip this house to shreds. I've already pointed out the main things I think that are going to come up. but they're going to find more things. They're going to be there for four hours. They have different tools and whatnot to find more of the potential problems with the house.

But just so that when they show up to the inspection, they're looking at it from a lens of this is going to suck. That's super important. Like they need to know this is going to be ripped to shred. This is not a new house. It's going to have old house problems, all that stuff. And I think the language you use for that is very important because then often the buyer shows up and they get done with the inspection.

They're like, oh, you said it was going to be horrible. I don't know. I'll take a step back. It wasn't that horrible. You know, like, we found some problems, right? And then they're coming at it from a space that's just a lot better. And I think I touch on it quick, but just getting, not getting them under contract on a house that's going to be a problem is so important. So, like, if you know there's a huge issue with a house, just tell the buyer, like, hey, I know you love this house, but this retaining wall is going to cost $30,000 to fix.

I just talked to my guy. This is a huge problem. Like, are you okay taking that on or not? And if they say no, then you say, then this probably isn't the house that you should be buying. So coming at that twofold of like figure out what are deal breakers for them and eliminate those houses early on so that you don't end up with these headaches down the road. And understanding what they're looking for, like Josh had mentioned, the first expectation of what is going to do at showings and asking a bunch of questions and understanding different buyers also

have different feelings about certain issues with houses. if you know your buyer is going to be super hyper sensitive about water damage because they've had an issue in the past and it's going to be a more of a concern for them. It's something you should probably be more likely to look out for because then if you get to an inspection, not to mention, I mean, they're like a thousand bucks these days. That's the other thing is it's not a small amount of money. Cancellation is not only like costs you time, headaches, stress. They cost the buyer a lot of money. So if you don't do your job preparing them and then they have to cancel because of it. That sucks.

I mean, you kind of failed them to a thousand dollars. Yeah, it sucks. Well, those are the big hitters on buyers. I want to say, do seller expectations quickly. I was just going to jump in with that. So to AJ's point, the concept that he's talking about is that anchor and a just concept that we talked about negotiations, right? So you're mentally preparing them from an anchoring standpoint on a worst-case outcome.

This is not to be mental manipulation or anything along those lines, but we've seen, like, you're creating a much better experience. You're creating a much better experience. On the seller's side, you see when this. happens where like a buyer comes back to your seller and is like, I want this thing fixed. And you're like, who like, did you guys not prepare them that that's not a big deal beforehand or that there were going to be issues? Because the thing that you're asking for is something that if you would have prepared

them properly through the process, it wouldn't have been something that they would have been nervous about because they're, they're going to be nervous naturally because they're not as educated as you are. So you have to get them there beforehand. hand. So I just want to make sure I clarified that it's not like you're trying to convince them to buy a house that's not good. It's that you're trying to prepare them that some of the stuff that's on the report isn't a big deal. Or it's in every house that you're going to find. There's going to be something. So big deal stuff we'll talk about, but less big deal stuff we're going to

be okay with. I mean, if you're building a house and the builder says, we're going to be done on July 15th. And then on May 15th, the builder calls you and says, we're ahead of schedule, June 30th. You're like, oh my gosh, we get to move in. Like, you're so excited. You want to move in early. But if they call you on May 15th and say, we're delayed a month, August 15th. Like, you know what I'm saying? There's nothing better than landing 25 minutes early with Delta.

Oh, it's just every time. That's a brilliant analogy. So Delta says, we're going to land at 3.30. And they're like, yeah, we're a little ahead of schedule 305. It's like every other flight. And there's nothing worse than always being delayed with Sun Country. Well, that's just it. So then Sun Country comes and says the same flight and says, we're going to land at 2.45.

and you land at 305, you're pissed off. And it's like they both arrived at the same time. You just gave the wrong expectation. Correct. Yep. Anchoring is really important in everything you're doing real estate. Actually, it's like all we kind of do is anchor. Yep.

So moving on to sellers, though, which also includes anchoring, I'm sure. But do you have a top three expectation setters for sellers? I mean, I would say when you list a house, when you pick a price, depending on what you pick, that's an important one to go through. And I think when I go through listing presentations, the big ones I talk about are days on market. So how many days is the normal house in your area taking to go to pending? And that's going to give them a like, oh, it's not going to take two months probably. Or oh, it's not going to sell in three days probably kind of expectation.

And then you go on to months supply, which is a great expectation set or two, which is here's how many buyers there are versus how many sellers there are. So what kind of you can expect for demand compared to the other listing. in your area. And then the big one is showings to pending. So how many showings should it normally take for us to get a contract and get to a pending status? So if we don't get to that number of showings in the days on market normal period of time, that means we're operating outside of the supply that exists on the market probably. And our price is probably a little bit too high. Or if we get to that number of showings and nobody wants to buy it, maybe the condition is really bad. So it gives you a good introduction to like, here's what you can expect.

expect as we get listed and here's what is probably going to happen if we're priced properly. And if we're not, we'll know quick. And stats are really nice because they are facts. There's no. Yeah, there's no emotion. There's no emotion on stats. The other one, the pricing in that, those three stats that we show every seller is really important.

I also think the expectation on what it's going to be like to prep their house for sale is really important. Specifically, we have a home readiness stage that goes to the house and helps them either with their furniture, or you can do physical staging as well, but kind of what they should do to their house to prepare it for photos and for the market, letting them know that it's going to be extremely stressful to get their house ready to put on the market. It's no different than really like an inspector, basically. It's like someone walks through the house that you own and you're selling. It's like, change this. Change this. I don't like this color. She doesn't

do that, but like that's how it's how people probably hear it. Yeah. And I still remember mom and dad sold their house and someone told them the paint mom because mom love bright bold colors. Yeah. She's like, the stager came through and told me to paint over all these walls. and I hated her so much. But the expectation, like you could have probably said, like, hey, just as a note, they look at the paint colors and they like neutral. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Say something about that, right?

The expectation is on that's really important because you want to make sure your sellers are, you don't want to force them to do anything, but you want to help them get out of their own way so they can make as much money as possible. That's your job at the end of the day. Yeah, on the pricing side, if we want to go back to that, I have this conversation in this thought process on every listing. at Target an anchoring concept that we like kind of it's the same general thought of anchoring adjusting but the general rule was and everyone said this is under promise over deliver right

you always want to under promise things and over deliver on those expectations that you said I think too many agents on the listing side because they're afraid of not being able to get listings will over promise and under deliver and thus you may sell one house but you're never going to expand your business, get a five-star review, get referrals, et cetera, right? You won the battle, but you lost the war. When I go into a listing, I tell people, here's a range where I think your house can be priced. At the top of the range, I have a number in mind of the maximum amount that I think this could possibly go for in a best case scenario. I want to set a list price in which that top number is still in play. So like if the top number is 500,000, I don't want to price

the house at $399 because the odds of me getting to $500,000 because everyone else is anchoring and adjusting off of the price that I set for the list price is low. But I don't, if I think 500 is the best case scenario, I don't want to price it at 500 because I don't know that we're going to actually get that price on the front end. So I want to price it somewhere where that's in the realm of possibility, but it's not where we're setting the price. You want to set the price at a price where if that price happens, the seller is going to say, okay, I got a price that I'm okay with. You never want a price below that price because if you sell it at list price and they're upset with you, then you did something wrong as well. So as I'm thinking about pricing,

that's kind of how I'm balancing that. For example, I saw a house that I think maximumly could get $700,000 in a best case scenario. I think market value is probably closer to somewhere between $6.50-ish range to maybe $700. I told them I thought $650 was the best price because if you get that price, I think you're happy. If you get above that price, I think you're happy. And if you price it there, I think 700 is still in reach in a best case scenario. So you're figuring out how to align it with all of those possibilities from a pricing standpoint.

Do we have any other seller expectation? I mean, pricing is the biggest one. Yeah. Well, that's all we have this week on the Nerdy Agent podcast. And as always, remember, be better.