I recently came back from a CRS negotiating class. I think it's great that negotiating classes are being taught to Realtors. I did think that a lot of the material was conceptual, here are some things I've learned over the years, that I will share as long as you don't use them when negotiating with me.
1. Set the expectation-Liken negotiating to a game of ping pong. You send it over the net, they send it back, you send it over..... it helps clients to understand that it's a business process, not something to get emotional about easily. Also, try roleplaying. Realtor: "Ok Bob, your selling your house for 300K. I bring you an offer for 270K, what do you do"? Client: "No, way, I'd tell him to get lost." Realtor: "No, you would counter him, where would you counter"?.....on and on
2. Chester and Gary Karrass have several books on negotiation. http://www.karrass.com/ One of the things I always remember that they say is, "The more you ask for, the more you get. But if you ask for too much, you will deadlock." I believe I'm paraphrasing here. My idea of being a great negotiator is having the ability to reach agreement. Don't, of course, lose the home that your buyers love trying to save them a thousand dollars.
3. Tell this to the client before they look at houses and fall in love with one. "Danielle, we are going to go and look at houses today, try not to fall in love with one. You may find the perfect house, but it may not be the one for you if we can't agree on terms and price." Once clients fall in love with a home, they lose their ability to negotiate.
4. Save your negotiating chips for something important. "Randy, at the beginning of a deal, you have so many negotiating chips. If you use them up on trivial things, you will have none left when something important comes along." People who ask for thirty items on their repair request list, usually anger the sellers and don't get agreement on the important things that they really wanted fixed. This is a case of being penny wise and pound foolish.
5. Never give away a concession. Always trade something for something. Joe, my clients will agree to X price, if you include the refrigerator.
6. Find out what the counterparty priority is. It is not always price. If you deadlock on price, switch to terms, something you can get agreement on. Always, "keep the ball up in the air."
There's a few more things I can think of but I don't want to give everything away. Does anybody have negotiating tips they'd like to share?
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