Real estate buyer questionnaire: 50 questions to build better relationships

Are you starting off on the right foot with your buyer leads?

Real estate professionals are trained to sell themselves on their industry knowledge, personality, and value. But you can’t build a real estate business on charisma alone. To turn a lead into a long-term client, you need to prioritize their needs over everything else.

The biggest rainmakers out there are known for doing their homework better than anyone else, paying extra close attention to their prospect’s real desires and expectations.

Of course, these agents are also incredibly busy. The key to getting to know your prospects on a deeper level, without spending hours of time each day, is a strong real estate buyer questionnaire.

The right real estate buyer questionnaire is like a client relationship study guide, providing clear insights to boost buyer trust from the first consultation.

Ready for a real estate buyer questionnaire that helps you build better relationships faster? These 50 questions are a great place to start.

What we’ll cover 

• What is a buyer questionnaire?
• 50 questions for your real estate buyer questionnaire 
• How to talk to a potential buyer in real estate: 3 tips from the pros

What is a buyer questionnaire (and why you should always use one)

A real estate buyer questionnaire is an organized list of questions covering everything from the exact home features a buyer is looking for to how an agent can best serve their needs.

The goal of a buyer questionnaire is not only to help agents qualify buyer leads faster, but also to make your client’s experience aces from the get-go. With deeper insights into how you can best serve your real estate clients, you can meet their specific needs, build rapport faster, and make a great impression during that crucial first meeting.

It’s also a big opportunity to differentiate your brand.

If you’re ready to stand out in a sea of other agents, a strong real estate buyer questionnaire is a must. Let’s take a closer look at the full range of questions you can include.

50 potential questions for your real estate buyer questionnaire 

First and foremost, the content of your real estate buyer questionnaire must be relevant to your ideal client.

For example, you wouldn’t ask questions about school districts for a retired couple searching for a summer vacation property. Every question on your form should make sense to your prospects.

This also means you may want to create unique buyer questionnaire forms for the core types of clients you serve, then store them in a lead management system that makes it easy to customize and send.

To save you time, we’ve listed all the key questions you might find in a real estate buyer questionnaire template, broken down by category. Feel free to cut, paste, and edit the below qualifying questions as needed!

Basic information

1. Full name(s) of buyers

2. Current address? Please clarify if a house, townhouse, condo, apartment, or other. 

💡 Tip: Not all addresses are easy to discern. Ask your client what type of home they’re living in now and set the groundwork for discovering their motivating factors for moving.

3. Best contact email address

4. Best contact phone number

5. Do you prefer phone calls, emails, or text communications?

💡 Tip: You’re obviously going to use all forms of communication (e.g., phone calls for negotiations, emails for documents, texts for quick updates), but understanding your client’s preferred communication style sets the tone for smoother interactions throughout.

6. What’s your availability throughout the week for showings?

{{cta-yellow}}

Your current situation

7. Are you looking for a single family, townhouse, condo, or multifamily home? 

8. How long have you been looking for a new home?

9. Are you from [city] or are you new to the area?

10. How soon are you looking to purchase your new home?

11. Are you under any time constraints to relocate?

12. Do you have a home to sell before moving into the new one?

13. If so, do you have a shortlist of interested buyers?

14. What do you like about your current home?

15. What do you not like?

16. What excites you about purchasing something new?

17. Do you want to live in the city or in a rural area?

18. Do you have a specific area or neighborhood in mind?

19. How many people are living in your new home?

20. Are you looking for a home that includes extra acreage?

21. Have you attended any open houses or showings? If so, what did you like about these homes? 

22. Are these homes still on your list of contenders? Feel free to provide addresses, listing links, etc.

Home features and aesthetics

23. Would you prefer an older home, newer home, or new build?

24. What style of home are you partial to? Is there a second style in the running? 

25. Do you need specific space to accommodate your family (e.g., a finished basement for teenagers or a yard for pets)? 

26. Do you have a specific lot size in mind?

27. How many bedrooms and how many bathrooms are ideal?

28. Are you willing to do a little work, a lot of work, or do you need a move-in ready home?

29. What amenities are important to you (central air, sprinkler system, sunroom, etc.)?

30. Would you like a garage? How many vehicles does it need to accommodate?

31. Would you like a home with a view?

32. Are you interested in looking at homes located on a one-way street?

33. Are you interested in looking at homes located on a curb?

34. Do any rooms need to be a certain size to accommodate furniture, exercise equipment, etc.?

Financial questions

35. What is your price range?

36. Do you have a monthly installment range in mind?

💡 Tip: Skim the surface when asking about finances. Money is a touchy subject to discuss with strangers and getting too specific can put a client off. Save your in-depth questions for the buyer consultation after you’ve built a connection. 

37. Have you been pre-approved by a lender? If so, please provide their name, company, phone number, and email.

💡 Tip: Pre-approval is an indirect way of asking their budget. It also tells you how quickly you and the client can begin making offers.

38. Would you like a list of lending company recommendations?

39. Are there any title companies you prefer to work with?

Real estate experience and future plans

40. Is this your first time purchasing a home?

41. If not, what stands out to you about your former purchase experience(s)?

42. How long are you looking to keep this home before purchasing another?

43. Is this your primary residence, vacation home, or investment property?

💡 Tip: Some families plan to live in a home for specific “seasons” in their lives — think military, until kids graduate, etc. Aim to find out where they are in their journey so you can better serve their needs.

44. Have you worked with a real estate agent in the past?

45. What did you like about that experience?

46. What do you wish that real estate professional had done differently?

47. Are you currently interviewing other real estate agents?

48. Any questions or concerns about the homebuying process you’d like us to cover in the meeting?

49. What expectations do you have of me as your future real estate partner?

50. How did you find me?

💡 Tip: Asking this last question tells you what’s working in your real estate marketing. If the buyer’s answer is vague, you can ask again during your consultation.

How to talk to a potential buyer in real estate: 3 tips from the pros

Creating your real estate buyer questionnaire is just the beginning. It’s how you use it that determines your success.

Here are a few bonus pro tips to help you make the most of your buyer insights.

Interact with buyers based on where they are in the sales journey

Real estate coach and podcaster Tom Ferry and Patrick Ferry of Cay, Carly & Patrick Keller Williams advise agents to adjust their communications with buyers based on where they are in the sales journey.

For example, are they in the research or transactional phase? 

In a recent episode of the Tom Ferry Show, Patrick uses one simple question to find the answer:

“How familiar are you with this neighborhood?”

Buyers who are newer to the area and just dipping their toes in the water will look for a different set of services from their agent compared to a transactional buyer who is more likely to reveal the number of homes they’ve explored on their own, or share details on their current experience with homeownership.

“When I changed the game, BOOM! I started getting way more showings, way more consultations because I was addressing where the consumer was at in the journey,” says Patrick.

{{cta-yellow}}

Don’t be afraid to ask buyers to fill out the questionnaire

Some agents worry they’ll get pushback when asking buyers to fill out a questionnaire or survey. 

Florida-based Alexa Rosario of Alexa Rosario & Associates has found a way to overcome those objections by relating her intake forms to another well-known industry. 

Here’s how Alexa puts it: 

“It’s kind of like when you go to the doctor, except way more fun because it’s for the house you want to buy.”

She built her client funnel process with steps that answer the three essential questions before hiring an agent:

1. Can they trust you?
2. Do you care about them? 
3. Can you help them? 

Alexa’s client intake form answers the second question with crystal clarity.

“‘Do you care about me?’ Yes, because I’ve asked you way more questions than any other agents have asked you so far,” she explains.

Hear more on Alexa’s unique strategy for building client funnels

Support your questionnaire with face-to-face insights

We’ve all fallen into the practice of sending texts and emails that quickly cross to-dos off our lists, but letting technology do all the talking for you is no way to build a lasting relationship.

“We need to reconnect either voice-to-voice or face-to-face so we can understand that they understand,” says Alasandra Whitley, REALTOR® and Director of Education and Training for RE/MAX Crossroads.

“We get that from hearing their voice — we hear the inflection in their voice. We can empathize with the client and what they’re going through,” says Ali in a recent NAR podcast episode. 

An automated buyer questionnaire is a beautiful thing, but don’t let it stop you from engaging with clients in other, more personal ways. With in-person or voice-to-voice conversations, you can pick up on key cues that give you deeper insight into their needs and motivations.

Staying on top of your buyer database isn’t easy, but it doesn’t have to be so hard

Follow Up Boss keeps it simple with seamless integrations with all your favorite tools.

Start by creating your real estate buyer questionnaire as an easily shareable Google Form, then use Zapier’s lead capture integration to automatically integrate your buyer information straight to their profile in Follow Up Boss.

See just how easy it can be with a free 14-day trial.