Buyer questionnaire: The best questions to ask your clients (+PDF)

You’ve set an appointment with a new potential buyer client – congrats! But, now what? Successful agents send a real estate buyer questionnaire to all buyer leads. This will not only save you time in the future, but it will also position you as a professional. Since you’ll be guiding them through the homebuying process, using a buyer questionnaire starts the client relationship off on the right foot.

We will guide you through what a buyer questionnaire is, why it’s important, when to send it, how to use it, and most importantly, which questions to include in your questionnaire.

Short on time? Download our buyer questionnaire below:

Download Vetted’s Buyer Questionnaire

What’s a real estate buyer questionnaire?

This is a tool used by top agents as a way to be more prepared going into a buyer consultation appointment. In its simplest form, it’s a paper or online form sent to the buyer(s) for them to fill out on their own. You can use any questionnaire platform for this: Google Forms, JotForm, TypeForm and Survey Monkey are the most popular. If you’re not very tech-savvy, a simple printed form will do the trick.

Pro Tip

No need to spend money on this; a free version will work just fine – use ours above!

Why a homebuyer questionnaire is important

You might be thinking, “I don’t need a buyer questionnaire,” and you’d be right, you don’t need one. But if you want to ensure a smooth transaction, get to know your buyers right from the start and be able to do your job more efficiently and easily, you definitely want one.

Using a buyer questionnaire is important for a few reasons:

• You will save a lot of time at your consultation. Rather than asking each of the questions during your meeting, you’ll already have the answers ahead of time. This allows you to focus the consultation on going deeper, building the relationship with the buyer and securing them as a buyer client.
• It takes the pressure off the buyer. Imagine sitting across the table from a couple looking to buy their first home and grilling them with dozens of questions while you scribble notes. That’s how many agents used to collect this information back in the day (myself included, unfortunately). It’s much more pleasant for all parties involved to give the buyer the flexibility to complete the questionnaire at their convenience and leisure.
• It’s a prequalification and priorization tool. Let’s say you have too many buyer leads to set 1-2 hour appointments with each of them in the next week. Using a buyer questionnaire will help you prioritize who to meet with this week (the most motivated and qualified buyers) and who you can meet with later on.
• It positions you as a professional. Since many real estate agents do not use buyer questionnaires, simply using this tool will set you apart and make you look like the professional real estate agent you are. It’s part of a process; you’re the expert, you know the steps, and this is the first step. Buyers will respond well to you taking control and guiding them, especially at the beginning when they do not know what to expect.

When to send a real estate buyer questionnaire

Send the questionnaire to your buyer leads as soon as they agree to meet with you. Here’s an example of what to say:

“Great! I look forward to meeting with you on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. I’ll send you an email with a questionnaire link in it for you to fill out ahead of our meeting, if you don’t mind. This will give me more insight into what you’re looking for so I can better prepare for our meeting.”

If there are multiple buyers, send the questionnaire to each buyer separately. You’ll most likely see different answers. This will provide you with intel on which items the buyers don’t agree on, and will give you valuable insight into how to be the mediator during the homebuying process.

What do you do with the answers?

Once you get the answers, be sure to review them before the meeting! An easy way to lose a buyer’s trust is to ask them to take time to fill out a homebuyer questionnaire and not bother to read their answers ahead of time. So, put this in your calendar as a reminder if you need to.

I’d recommend printing the answers so you have them right in front of you during the consultation. This also allows you to take notes and have everything in one place. No need to go through every answer with the buyers during the meeting, but do confirm the main points: timeline, budget and motivation.

Here’s what it could sound like: “Thank you so much for taking the time to fill out the questionnaire I sent. It sounds like you’re looking to be in your new home by the end of August, so your kids can start in their new school, and you’d like to spend $750,000 or less – is that right? Awesome! We can definitely make that happen.”

Don’t forget to ask further questions where needed to clarify any information that is essential to your search process.

Pro Tip

After the appointment, scan your notes and their answers and save them in a folder. Staying organized will be crucial if the buyers decide to pause their search and resume it months or years later. I’ve had that happen before, and I was so grateful I saved my notes.

Real estate questions to ask buyers

We’ve taken the most important questions you should be asking buyer client leads and broken them down into categories:

The Basics

• Name
• Email address
• Phone number
• Current address
• Who will be living in the home?
• How do you prefer to be communicated with? Text, phone, email?
• What days/times are most convenient for you for showings?

The Timeline

• When would you ideally like to be in your new home?
• Are you currently renting? If so, when is your lease up?
• Are you able to break your lease or go month-to-month, if necessary?
• Do you own your current home? If so, are you able to buy first and then sell?
• Would you like me to sell your current house for you, or will you rent it out? (If they want to sell, congrats – you now have a listing appointment and a buyer consult! Be sure to meet with them at their current home, if possible.)

Motivation

• Tell me about what prompted you to want to move now
• What about that is important to you?
• How will a new home improve your life?
• If the right home came on the market tomorrow, how likely would you be to make an offer? (scale of 1 to 10, 1 being “no” and 10 being “heck yes – let’s do this!”)
• Is there anything that would prevent you from making an offer on a home?

Financials

• Will you be paying cash or using a mortgage?
• Have you been pre-approved by a lender? If so, can you provide your pre-approval letter? 
• Would you like an introduction to one of my trusted lenders?
• Have you met with a financial advisor? (This is not necessary, but always recommended.)
• Is anyone gifting you funds for the down payment?
• What’s your ideal budget for a home?
• What’s your maximum budget for a home?

Your Ideal Home

While no property is perfect, think about what you would want if you could create your dream home from scratch. This will help guide us in our search:

Location

• Which areas/towns/neighborhoods are you most interested in?
• What’s your maximum commute time to work, and what’s your office address?
• How important is it to be near public transportation? (Multiple choice: Essential, nice but not necessary, or not important)
• Would a main road be ok or is a neighborhood setting a must-have?

Type & Style 

• Single-family, condo, multi-family?
• Townhome, apartment style, colonial, ranch, cape, split, Victorian, Tudor, etc? (list the most common styles in your area)
• Number of floors
• Minimum number of bedrooms
• Minimum number of bathrooms
• Do you need off-street parking? For how many cars? EV charging?
• Do you need a garage? How many bays?
• Ideal square footage
• Would you like a home with a pool?
• Would you like a home with a yard? Fenced in?
• Would you like a basement? Finished?
• Any preference on type of heat?
• Would you like something move-in ready, or would you like to add your own style to a home that needs some work?

Priorities

• List five must-have features
• List five absolute dealbreakers

Your real estate experience

• Tell me about your prior real estate experience:
• Have you bought a home in this state before?
• What are you looking for in your buyer’s agent?

Extras

• What’s your favorite restaurant?
• Favorite sports team?
• If you have pets, what are their names?
• Anything else I should know before we meet?

Of course, feel free to add to and customize these questions to match your market and your business, but use these questions as a template to get you started creating your own homebuyer questionnaire. Using this tool will save you time and make your buyers feel more comfortable.

The full picture

Using a detailed buyer questionnaire is the best way to get to know your prospective buyer clients on a deeper level, so you can provide even better customer service to them and maximize the time you spend together looking at houses. Categorize your questions to make it easier for buyers to fill out and to help keep yourself organized. This will set you up for success at your buyer consultations!

About Ashley Harwood

Ashley Harwood began her real estate career in 2013 and built a six-figure business as a solo agent before launching Move Over Extroverts in 2018. She developed training materials, classes, and coaching programs for her fellow introverts. Beginning in 2020, Ashley served as Director of Agent Growth for three Keller Williams offices in the Boston metro area. She’s now the Lead Listing agent for the Fleet Homes team in Massachusetts and a regular contributor to Vetted by HousingWire. She created The Quiet Success curriculum and has taught thousands of real estate agents nationwide. She has also been a guest speaker at top industry events and has been named a leading real estate coach by prominent industry publications.

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