Tips for Negotiating Your Home Sale or Purchase
A Realtor friend of mine named Marilyn Messenger in Concord, MA gave me permission to share 4 of her tips for negotiating with you today. When a home buyer and a home seller are in the middle of negotiating a sales price the process can be emotional. The two parties in the negotiations can sometimes feel suspicious of each other, but you have to keep emotions out of the process.
Here are a few negotiating tips:
1. Create an atmosphere of
friendliness, flexibility, and joint problem solving. Negotiating is not a boxing match where you are looking for that one knock-out blow. There has to be value for all parties in the sale for the sale to work vs repeating “sale”
2. Be respectful of the other party’s wants and needs.
There may be certain concessions that the other party has to have to complete the sale. Let go of the little stuff to get what you really want. Put yourself in the opposite shoes to figure out how you can get there. We’ve had a sale fall through due to a rick of wood.
3. Marilyn suggests to,
”Stay focused on the end result; don’t get hung up on the process.”
You have to play the game and go back and forth to find terms that work for both parties.
4. ”Getting the house is what’s important, not ‘how’ the seller negotiates.
Don’t take a seller’s response personally; it’s not about you.” People don’t realize that their Realtors are often buffers that keep the other party from experiencing all of their client’s emotions. A Realtor then has to find a tactful way of communicating what their client is thinking to the other party. You may not like how someone is negotiating, but do not let the other party to the transaction keep you from making a good home sale or purchase.
5. “Offer what you can to keep the negotiations moving
so you can move to an agreement; often it’s the small gestures that matter.” Negotiating requires give and take. Sometimes giving a bit earns good will when you have to negotiate repairs after your inspection.
6. “Be patient and stay positive.”
You usually cannot achieve the best outcome quickly. Most concessions are made at the very end of a negotiation.
Good luck as you search for your next home or sell your next home. Be sure that you have a Realtor to be your advocate as you negotiate the purchase or sale of your home.
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