The more you practice objections, the easier they are. Tom Toole, leader of the #1 team in Pennsylvania, did an hour-long live objection handling session today. And here’s the thing—he didn’t have any scripts in front of him.
His team laid every objection in the book on him—and they were tough. But, as Toole pointed out, when you understand how to handle these things, it becomes repetitive. There are about 10 objections in real estate, and if you know how to handle all 10, you can handle any conversation.
“This is the biggest gap for real estate agents,” Toole said. But, “I say the same stuff over and over”:
- “We want you to buy the right home.”
- “We’re on your timeframe.”
- “I totally get it.”
That’s what objection handling is about—acknowledging the question and validating the feelings of the person you’re talking to. From there, you address the objection.
In case you missed today’s live event, we’re sharing a small sampling of scripts from Toole and his team. Bookmark this page as a roleplaying resource for Q4 2024 (and beyond).
In the first objection handling segment, starting at the 57 second mark, Zahra Saleh, who suggested this whole event, took the role of a prospective buyer/seller. And she did not make things easy for Toole, throwing him objection after objection, including:
- “We might wait until next year. I just want to see what’s out there.”
- “Yeah, I’m not signing that” (buyer agreement)
- “So, what’s on this contract exactly?”
- “It’s still early on. I don’t think we’re comfortable with signing anything yet.”
- “My sister bought a home recently and never had to sign anything with an agent.”
- “With the holidays coming up, we’re too busy to meet with you.”
- “We’ll probably sell our (current) home first…and not until next year.”
- “What exactly does this meeting entail? What are we talking about?”
- “We’re probably going to sell our home on our own…I don’t want to pay commission.”
If you watch nothing else, tune in for the first 20 minutes to hear this mini-masterclass on objection handling:
And for more on objection handling from the GOAT Tom Toole, check out his courses in BAMx. Use code OBJECTION at discount for 25% off your first year or month.
5 Objection Handling Scripts
To be clear, these are not the only conversations from the live objection handling event. And for all we know, you may find yourself using one or more of the other scripts used in today’s role-playing session.
So, while we encourage you to learn and practice with the talking points provided below, make time to enjoy the full event. And to get the full benefit, make role playing practice a daily priority.
Objection 1: Mortgage Rates
Client: “With the interest rates being where they’re at and uncertainty in where things are going, we’re just not too sure that this is going to be the right move.”
Agent: Well, I want you to make the right move, not just the next move. So I’m totally aligned with you there. You mentioned interest rates—what you understand about rates and what’s happening with them right now?
Client: Yeah, so right now, we have a 4% rate, and rates now, I think are close to 7%. And that’s a little bit much for us to swallow, and we kind of want to wait for them to come down a bit more.
Agent: Sure. So how much would you like to see ’em come down?
Client: I guess maybe 5% could be a little bit easier to digest.
Agent:I’d love to see rates come down to 5%, too, by the way, we’re on the same page. So rates are a concern. You want to see ’em come down. Most of the projections are that we’re going to see 6.5% to maybe the lowest is 5.5% by the end of next year. So we might be waiting a while, and that’s okay. I’m here to wait with you.
Is there a payment that you’re looking for? Because obviously rate correlates to payment.
Client: Yeah, I would say we’re looking to stay within $2,000 to $2,100 a month.
Agent: Got it. So you want to be at $2,100 and then short of rates, anything else that makes you nervous?
Client: Just prices. I really don’t want to lock into something too high. We don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s a little nerve-wracking. We’re just nervous.
Agent: Look, it’s nerve-wracking buying a home So it’s normal to feel that way, and it’s one of the most stressful things people go through. So I totally get it. And the good news right now is history is telling us what happens with prices after an election.
So if you look at seven out of the past eight elections, short of the 2008 financial crash, we saw prices go up. So even if rates come down, you might see prices jump up If you’re waiting for 5%, and we may not see that until 2026. Who knows? I mean, that’s not even in the projections right now. So you could be paying a lot more for the home and still be dealing with a rate that’s in that same range.
Now the good news is that you can renegotiate the rate if they do drop with the refinance, but of course, that’s not a guarantee. If they don’t come down, it’s not an option. You can’t renegotiate the price. So that’s something to keep in mind here. So we know that prices are likely going to go up.
What else are you concerned about?
Client: That was pretty much it.
Agent: So what I’m hearing is most important is you want to find a place that’s going to be in your budget for your family, right?
Client: Yes.
Agent: And then what’s important to you about making a move like this again? Remind me about that.
Client: Well, we’re trying to upsize a little bit more. We’re in a townhouse now. It’s kind of getting a little crammed. I’d love a backyard to host some family events and grill.
Agent: Got it, got it. So how would you feel if a year from now, you’re still in that townhouse, your kids are a little older, prices go up and rates stay the same?
Client: Probably a little unhappy.
Agent: Again, we want to find a home that’s the right budget for you. We have found that the right home can come out on the market at any moment. We have no idea. It could be a call we get tomorrow, could be six months from now. So it sounds like, at some point, you do want to make this move, right?
Client: Absolutely.
Agent: So I don’t know if this would be for you, but if you’re open to it, why don’t we just actively search and be really particular about what we go look at? If find the right home and we can make the numbers work, great. And if not, I’m here to help you find that, whether it’s now or a couple of years from now. That sound good?
Client: Sounds great.
Objection 2: Expired Listing
Client:“We’re not interested right now.”
Agent: Hi, my name’s Tom. I’m a local real estate agent in Westchester. I saw your property came off the market and expired and wanted to see when you plan on interviewing the right agent for the job of getting it sold.
Client: I mean, just kind of thinking about it now, we’re really just sitting back and reevaluating our plans. I’m not sure what we’re going to do.
Agent: I think that’s a really smart move, especially after the home doesn’t sell. I mean you were on the market quite a while there. So, tell me, where were you planning on moving to once it did sell or if it did sell?
Client: We’re potentially looking at moving out of state if it does sell. We’re looking to go somewhere warmer, just like everyone else these days. But for right now, we’re not really in a hurry. So, we’re just waiting for the right market conditions for the move.
After asking a few more questions to get a better sense of the homeowner’s plans and priorities, Tom asked a question that goes right to the pain point:
Agent: So, just out of curiosity, what do you think stopped the home from selling? I’m kind of surprised it didn’t move when it was out there.
Client: Yeah, I know—especially since we’re in a seller’s market right now. The agent that we hired, I mean he said he had everything in place to get it sold, and then we just didn’t get the showings that we were expecting. So a contract expired and it didn’t seem like it was worthwhile to keep throwing that down the road.
Agent: Sure, sure. I get that. So you didn’t get a lot of showings, so how did you end up selecting that particular agent?
Client: We went ahead and interviewed a couple folks. This guy that ended up helping us was actually a friend of my husband’s. He’s been in the industry a while.
Agent: Okay, got it. So you had a friend you kind of connected with, and then what did that agent do that you liked the best?
Client: They said they were going to do a video tour of the property. They took some really nice photos of it. They seemed like they had all the marketing in line, but apparently, something was amiss there.
Agent: Yeah, well, obviously, the home didn’t sell, so that’s pretty clear. So they had some video marketing, they went over their plan, you seemed to like that. So besides selling the home, what else would you have liked to see that agent do?
Client: Differently? Well, obviously, getting the price that I wanted for it to afford the move and such.
Agent: Okay, got it. I mean, it sounds like they had a marketing plan. Did they tell you why they thought it wasn’t selling? Or what was the feedback you got from them?
Client: I mean, they were saying that just the market was different right now. Interest rates had gone up, buyers were getting cold feet with the election, so maybe the timing was wrong. We need to wait for the spring market when we see a little bit more oomph from buyers getting reengaged.
Agent: For sure. And that may be a great option for you. What I know is we sold nine homes on Monday at our team, so I’m not really sure that the election was stopping people from transacting.
With that, Tom has the homeowner thinking, “Maybe my last agent was wrong about why my home didn’t sell?” Then he goes right to the heart of what’s most important to the seller.
Agent: So, if you do decide to sell, what are you looking for in the next agent? What’s going to be most important?”
Client: I mean, obviously that someone has a solid marketing plan where we’re actually going to get the price we want for the home, I would say, and the steps to get us there.
Agent: So I’m hearing marketing and a plan is really important to you. And most agents, they have what I call a three-point plan where they put a sign up, they put it on the internet, and they just kind of wait for something to happen. And that is just not aggressive enough. I’m kind of hearing that might have happened to you here.
Client: I guess that could have been what we fell into.
Agent: And what I know is there’s a lot of things we can do differently to target the buyer for your home. I can tell you everything about the buyer except their name right now. So, if we have that information, and we’ve got a lot of advanced techniques we use at our team, would you be open-minded just to learn about some of those so you can see what a real marketing plan is going to look like?
Client: I mean, it doesn’t hurt having a conversation.
Objection 3: Waiting until next spring (or summer)
Client:“I’m thinking of selling next spring or summer.”
Agent: Great. So you’re thinking about selling next spring or summer. So tell me, where are you thinking about moving to?
Client: Thinking about moving back west. I mean my family is in California, so yeah, thinking about making that move back there.
Agent: Awesome. So getting close to family is a great reason to move. So you’re thinking about sometime in spring or summer. When did you want to get back to California? Do you have a place lined up there? Tell me a little bit more about your moving plans.
Client: Yeah, I think I have a place lined up for after the kids are getting out of school this spring, making a move for early summer. So yeah, I mean just in the starting phases of putting those pieces together.
Agent: Awesome. And you want to make sure it’s the right timing for your kids. I’m hearing there’s family involved, and you’ve got to deal with school and all that stuff. So, that makes a lot of sense.
What we’re seeing right now is the most savvy buyers and sellers looking at a Q1 or Q2 move are starting to plan right now because there’s a lot of work to get your home ready. And one of the big stressors for a lot of people is getting it ready for the market, keeping it clean, staying on top of any improvements that need to be done. So, we can walk you through all that, and we can also show you what our plan looks like, so that way you can move intentionally instead of just trying to rush it to the market. Have you ever seen those homes that just kind of pop up on the MLS, and nobody really knows about them?
Client: Yeah, all of a sudden, you see something, you’re like, Oh, I wish I would’ve known about this sooner.
Agent: For sure. And so the fact that you’re talking about that, that’s a big miss for a lot of sellers instead of having an intentional launch plan where we can ramp up interest, get people excited about the home, and get them all in at once. So, the buyers compete against each other, which I’m guessing might be what you want.
Client: Yeah, obviously we want to get the best value for the home that we can with all the moving expenses.
Agent: Sure. Yeah. Well, look, you’re going back to California, but it’s a lot more expensive than living here.
Client: Exactly. I think we’ll be downsizing.
Agent: All the more reason to have a good plan in place. So I don’t know if this will be for you, but we’re seeing a lot of sellers that we’re talking to now who’re thinking about Q1 or Q2; we’re meeting with them now we’re coming up with a plan, just giving them some good information. So if you’re open-minded to it, we could put together a market analysis, and show you what to do to get the home ready. And then that way when the time’s right, you’re able to make a move and be intentional with your decisions rather than trying to figure it all out.
Client: Yeah, exactly. That sounds like it totally makes sense to set that up for spring.
Objection 4: Buyer Agent Agreement
Client: “I’m not signing anything.”
Client: Alright, Tom, thanks for the call back. I do need to do some of my own research. This country needs to calm down. Now I owe you a commission? What’s going on?
Agent: Yeah, I mean, I feel the same way you do. The thing is, we have to play by the rules for the associations we belong to. It certainly wasn’t my call.
So there’s no owing a commission here—I want to be very clear about that. This has always been an option for sellers not to compensate agents for buyers. Kind of like a for sale by owner. And we usually sell a number of those every single year.
So what else about the contract made you nervous?
Client: Well, you said you’d take me into this property, now you’re making me sign something. And there was an agent yesterday who was willing to do this. So why can’t we do this?
Agent: If you’re talking to an agent that’s not getting agreements signed, I’d love to get their name so I could report them to the local board of Realtors not following the new protocols. And it’s very legitimate.
But I don’t want you to feel this stressed out about this. So I mean, would you be open-minded to maybe grabbing a cup of coffee and just sitting down beforehand? Or we could chat a little bit more about what’s most important to you here rather than just trying to get into this home and have you sign a contract?
Client: Well, like I said, I have to do my own research. I don’t understand everything and I’m working. Can you call me tomorrow at 5:30? (They hang up.)
Agent’s next steps:
From here, the client has given you the opportunity to help them with some research. Tom suggests following up with an email that provides the NAR consumer guides for them to review.
In addition, you can send a quick video (make sure you’re smiling) to explain what you sent and what to look for when researching. That may sound like, “Hi [Name], I understand you’re nervous. I totally get it with all the media news right now. So, I just sent some information you can review for your own research. Looking forward to talking tomorrow at 5:30.”
And, of course, be sure to call them back on time the next day.
Objection 5: The friend/relative who’s an agent
Client: “What if I ruin this relationship by not working with my friend/relative?”
Agent: I totally get that, and I think that’s a valid concern. So it sounds like the relationship is important to you. What about the sale of the house? Is that going to be important to you as well?
Client: Oh yeah, absolutely. And that’s why I trust them. I mean, they’ve been doing it for 20-plus years.
(If you can get this agent’s name, looking up their Zillow profile can give you some valuable information to share with the client.)
Agent: I’m actually looking at John Doe Zillow profile right now. It looks like they sold four homes in the past 12 months. So, is that someone you’re really going to trust to handle this kind of asset for you?
Client: Well, I mean, he told me he sold more than that, so I believe him over Zillow.
Agent: You want me to send you the MLS report that tracks all this?
Client: I mean, if you want, but he has the stats to prove it. He’s always posting on social media the houses that he sells.
Agent: I hope you’re right. I mean, it makes me a little nervous when I see this kind of stuff. So, what about their plan did you like the best? I mean you mentioned the relationship, so what is it about their plan or their strategy that you really like?
Client: Yeah, I mean, he’s just going to target specific areas. He’s going to call a bunch of people. He’s mentioned he’s even going to door knock my neighborhood. He knows my neighbors pretty well and he grew up in my neighborhood as well, so…
Agent: Very cool. And I know you said you were a little nervous about what happens to your relationship if you don’t use them. So let’s say the home doesn’t sell for the next 90, 120 days. How’s that going to make you feel?
Client: Yeah, I mean, it’s not great, but he’s been extremely transparent with me this entire time, so I’m sure we can work it out. I just feel like if I don’t use him, I don’t want to jeopardize that relationship if I use someone else.
Agent: I get it, and I look at it the other way, too. To me, you want to make sure you’re getting someone who can remove all the personal stuff and just focus on getting you the best result. Someone like me can do that for you without having that conflict of interest.
At this point, Tom stepped out of character:
You may not get this listing. This is real life. I don’t have magical things. If it’s going to be that far, you’ve got to be careful. You can only go down that road once. So, I don’t know that you’re going to always solve this a hundred percent of the time…
I would try to get in there for an appointment. All the stuff we’re talking about I would do. It may or may not work.
Watch the full replay video for more.
