Sellers Shhhhhhh!
These are great examples of why you should not be present when a buyer is touring your home. Sellers, I encourage you to read this. When buying my present home, there were two available on the same street. We toured both and had our hearts set on the one we eventually purchased. But the seller who stuck around in the other house actually told us that she would drop the price $10,000 if we bought it. I don't think she realized that her admission gave more power to our negotiation on the other home. After all, we could always fall back to put a bid on her home if we were unsuccessful in our negotiations. So, she unwittingly hurt her position and also the position of the seller of the home we eventually purchased. Since that time, I have become a Master Certified Negotiation Expert MCNE®. There is only a small percentage of REALTORS® who are MCNE®. Original Article Below.... by Jenna Dixon posted on ActiveRainAnything You Say ...Please, Stop Talking!
Listing agents have long pleaded with sellers to vacate the premises during showings. Agents have agreed to accompany all showings in an effort to placate their seller clients, agents have purchased expensive electronic key boxes and subscribed to monthly access services to open said key boxes, they pay fees to showing services so the seller does not talk to buyer agents directly...and still sellers do not understand WHY THEIR AGENTS DO THESE THINGS. The answer is fairly simple, AS YOUR LISTING AGENT I DO NOT WANT YOU TO TALK TO POTENTIAL BUYERS AND THEIR AGENTS. And here's why, you could, potentially and unknowingly compromise your negotiating position by revealing important details to the buyer or their agent. "Details? Like what?", you may ask! For instance, if you have already purchased or are under contract to purchase a new
home that is contingent on the sale of your current residence, revealing that you are under this, or any other kind of deadline, could tell the buyer's agent that you are ripe for a low ball offer. (You can insert pending job transfer, upcoming layoffs, serious illness, mounting debt or any other number of financial disasters.) Or, perhaps you are faced with the question, "What's your bottom line?" Oh yes, if given the chance many potential buyers and/or their agents will fire this little gem off just to see how you react. Attempts to begin negotiations directly with the seller are common. Maybe you feel like you are being helpful and showing the home yourself to point out important features, like the large deck. Are you ready for the criticism of that jiggly handrail or the loose foot boards? Will you, just off the cuff, agree to fix it? Congratulations, you may have just set yourself up to be asked to replace the entire deck, simply by acknowledging that there is a potential issue with the deck. Even something seemingly positive can hurt you when it comes to negotiating. In chatting with the potential buyer you discover a shared acquaintance or common interest, or maybe they reveal some crisis in their own lives that plays upon your sympathies. Will you be inclined to sell them your home for less than you would have if you had not known these personal details about them? The ever popular "buyer's letter to the seller" gained momentum in real estate simply for this reason ORIGINAL CONTENT BY JENNA DIXON GA BROKERS LICENSE# 277342 +++++++++++;){kind=link}