Negotiating has never been tougher, Keeping your seller focused on the facts of the contract and having them remain objective in this buyer's market can be a trying task. Buyers agents are just doing their jobs, you can almost hear the cringe when they offer you a low ball ( and I'm talking ridiculously low) offer over the phone, Some laugh and say "my client made me do it, please don't shoot the messenger." But I think a kind word should be said about our sellers who get written offers some 25K lower than asking when they have just made a sizable price adjustment. You know they have to be hurt, insulted and scared!!! Trying to negotiate when there is such a huge difference in the numbers is sometimes just impossible. The seller has a bottom line too and really sometimes he's not that out of line with the market, especially if his lister has tried to feed him all the pendings and sales that occur during the time that he is listed ( even a report once or twice a month can help your seller be focused on current conditions---sometimes just being informed about how many houses came on the market this month versus how many went into pending is enough to prepare them for an offer!)
Whatever happens it is always a much more pleasant experience when your sellers take the time to respond to an offer trying to put emotions on the back burner and truly reflect upon what the market might look like 2 weeks from now rather than assuming that it's got to get better. Sometimes we have to work with numbers that we didn't think we'd have to when we listed! I always appreciate my sellers opinions and feel very grateful when they listen to my advice and then take the time to weigh both sides. Sometimes a sale comes about more quickly when all parties have the same intention, to close on the property. Sometimes it's way more difficult because the buyer is really just out testing the waters on many properties and isn't really trying to negotiate anything. He's got the low ball offer and maybe one other counter in mind and off he goes, frustrating many a seller who has really tried to bring a counter that might work.
I'm always grateful when the negotiations go smoothly and my sellers can get a good night's sleep after they have racked their brains to provide a decent counter that might hurt a little but works for them in the long run.
Hats off to sellers who are trying to cope with all the tough spots in this market. Some of you are doing a great job!
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