We've all had them, right? Those sellers you just want to say to, "Don't get so emotional!" But how can they help it? This is their home, their soft place, their investment, their "stuff". How do you get a seller to stop being so emotionally involved?
Sellers must think of this transaction as a business deal. Once a homeowner has chosen to list their house, it can no longer be their "home", but a "house on the market"; A product for sale. They must realize this is a product on the market to be sold to a buyer as if this were a piece of furniture. It may seem cold, but without this thought process, sellers remain too attached to their home and get defensive and irritated when a buyer asks something more of them then expected.
Sellers need to try and see things from the buyer's perspective. This needs to be the case throughout the process from staging to closing. If the seller can realize that the buyer has no emotional attachment to the house yet and they are just trying to get a good deal, it can make the negotiations happen smoother.
When sellers get upset from a low ball offer or feel defensive when a buyer wants 100 repairs or upgrades it only makes the buyer that much more stubborn. When both parties are irritated with each other and emotions are flying, no one wants the transaction to be over faster than the agents involved. 
This is where listing agents and buyers agent really can put their emotional intelligence to work. Listing agents need to inform the seller of all possibly scenarios ahead of time and not to be offended when a buyer asks for the moon. The rational course of action would be to simply counter-offer for something the seller feels more comfortable with. Of course, buyers agents can also help their buyers by offering the same advice of putting themselves in the sellers shoes. This is a tough market to sell and by the time many actually do sell, they have dropped their price significantly.
Every person has a different personality and reacts differently to each situation. The challenge agents have is to skillfully counteract any possible emotional melt down by explaining the negotiation process ahead of time and try to get the seller to set their emotions aside.
Working with buyers and sellers definitely takes some skill. Visit my associates in Oak Harbor real estate and Fairbanks homes for excellent negotiation tactics.
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