The Five Questions That Qualify a Property Lead

Agents waste most of their week on people who were never going to buy. The fix is not working harder; it is finding out earlier.

The five questions

1. Budget — but framed properly.

"What range are you working with, so I only send you things that fit?"

Not "what's your budget?", which sounds like qualification. The framing matters; the information is the same.

2. Timeline.

"When would you ideally want to move in?"

"Within three months" and "sometime next year" are completely different leads and deserve completely different amounts of your time. Neither is bad — but treating them the same is.

3. Funding.

"Will this be a loan purchase or self-funded?"

If loan: is it pre-approved? An unapproved buyer is a maybe, and a maybe who has not spoken to a bank is a long way off.

4. Decision makers.

"Is anyone else involved in the decision?"

The most-skipped question, and the cause of most late-stage collapses. A spouse or parent who has not seen the flat will need to, and that is a viewing you have not scheduled yet.

5. What they have seen.

"What else have you looked at, and what did you not like?"

The most valuable question of the five. What someone rejects tells you far more than what they claim to want, and it tells you whether they are actually looking or just browsing.

Ask across two conversations, not one

Five questions in a row is an interview. Ask two in the first exchange — usually budget and timeline — and the rest naturally as the conversation continues.

Scoring, simply

• Hot: clear budget, moving within three months, funding sorted, decision-makers known, has viewed properties.
• Warm: budget and timeline clear, one or two gaps.
• Long: real, but six months or more away.

Hot gets same-day contact. Warm gets weekly. Long goes into a monthly nurture and stops consuming your afternoons.

The signal that beats all the answers

Whether they will commit to a specific viewing time. People describe themselves as serious constantly. Booking a Saturday slot and turning up is the only version of that claim that means anything.

Being willing to disqualify

The hardest discipline is telling someone honestly that you are not the right agent for them — their budget does not match the area, or they are two years away. Say it kindly and stay in touch. You lose a week of pointless work and often gain a client later, because you were the one who was straight with them.