Negotiating in Real Estate: has anyone seen my fridge??

Everyone has a story of being pressured by a car salesman, haggled at a garge sale, nagged by a child, or possibly manipulated by a spouse and all of those things are all samples of negotiating that are easy to spot.  While the thought of these may make you a little uncomfortable the real thing that can hurt you is buying or selling a home with a true master negotiator.

 The aggressive over bearing negotiator at the car lot may be intimidating but not the most dangerous to your finances or future.  A true master negotiator does not have a negotiating skill, he exists as a negotiator.  He has been doing it so long and actually studied it so much that simply moves so smoothly between techniques, scripts, and dialogues that you never realize you were negotiating.  

 There are many of these out their in the real estate world and the key for anyone to understand is that when you deal with them they are negotiating at ALL times.  There is no break.  Remember that anything you say not only can but WILL be used against you.  Let me illustrate by unmasking a few unassuming questions:

• (You are living in a house with a large yard and moving to a smaller yard)

The Agent Says "So you're probably moving to smaller yard where you won't have to do so much work right?"  You Say "Yes, we sure are." 

Result: The agent now knows that when there's no more room to negotiate price he can get you to throw in your $2,000 riding lawnmower.  You may think you threw it in at the end but he set that up for a last second bonus.

•  (An agent is showing a client through your home which is for sale.)

Agent Says "So did you find another home or are you building somewhere.  We are building now to maybe we'll be neighbors?"

You Say "Oh, yeah we are building a new place out in Salmon Creek but it won't be done for 3 months so we are in no hurry."

Result: A friendly conversation just reduced the offer on your home by $20,000 because the agent knows that in 3 months you will be making double house payments, so time and stress are on their side.

• (Agent is showing the buyer your home a week before making the offer) 

Agent Says "Hey, are you planning on leaving the fridge?"

You Say "No we'll be taking that with us."

Agent - Makes wincing facial expression and says "Oh..."

Result: You spend the next 2 days debating with spouse whether or not you should just leave it.  When the offer finally comes in you say yes to the fridge immediately.  Has anyone seen your fridge? Yes, the buyer took it because you had already worried yourself into surrender.

This is only a blog so these are just a few very quick examples but the techniques and styles are so vast that it is mind boggling.  I sat in a class today learning from a true master.  I find these classes so exciting because I constantly learn new ways to get the best results for my clients and also how to defend against the masters.  The best way to protect you from the masters is as simple and as hard as becoming one myself. And of course as I do I will remember that I should ALWAYS use my forces for good... and never evil. 

Lastly here is a very small list of techniques that you may already have had used against you: