This week I want to talk a little more about negotiating. Although it isn't a specific listing strategy I felt it would be a good place to insert something about negotiation:)
Do you consider yourself a negotiator? If you want to make a lot of money in real estate I sure hope so!
I believe learning how to negotiate is essential to making a large annual salary in this business. Do you easily take no for an answer? If a contract is presented to you on your listing or you present one to another agent it really is the same thing as far as the end result of bringing it to the closing.
Today I want to talk a little about the power of suggestion to the other agent particularly if they are not seasoned in being able to talk to their client. I had a purchaser who was interested in property that the seller was adamant about his price and the other agent felt the price was justified even though higher than it should be.
The justification was what the seller paid for the property and the amount of money they put into it to fix it up, not what the comps showed and what it was really worth. When I asked what comps were used to get the price the answer I received was "we took what he paid, what they put into it, and some near by new homes" I knew I would have to get creative here to make this deal fly.
When I presented the offer I pointed out to her that my buyers loan was approved and the only condition was we would need an appraisal. I said if the appraisal was lower than he wanted he would have to eventually come down to this price and perhaps next time the buyer would not be as strong and they would have a much more nerve racking situation.
I also reiterated that my people wanted the house but could not pay more than appraised value for it, just like anyone else. What my objective here was to help her understand that no one was going to pay the seller what he wanted for the property and she should be very honest with him about that so he should take the offer or counter very close to it. I tried to ask that without offending the agent so I said " What do you think the seller will do if we don't work this out and he gets another offer in 3 months that is the same or lower"? I went on to say "Some sellers are just not in reality I feel for you in having to deal with these people" I tried to put the blame on the seller which is mostly true, other than we should not take listings that are grossly overpriced.
In this particular case he took it, and I do give this agent a lot of credit for doing her job in being honest with him and leading him to make the right decision. Consequently we closed this transaction.
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