Who Dictates The Sale Price - The Buyer or The Seller?

Easier said than done my friend . We are all emotional beings. Sometimes we can control our emotions to a large extent but rarely can we not be affected at all by our emotions . I even know some hardcore share investors who have tried to professionally get themselves hypnotized to reduce their emotional reactions to the stock market...

 

Spot on..They play major role. I hate most of their dirty tactics they play, but eventually you got to believe the reality.. There are few genuine guys, I found they r quite unsuccessful in their career.

 

As an investor, its always better to go with the grain than against it when it comes to agents. Understand how agents operate then work in tandem with them as much as possible . Some good deals can be secured this way.

 

I was really happy with my agent for my last 2 sales. She left me with a very positive feeling, I think she did a terrific job and I would happily engage her services again!

From a buyer's perspective I had no issues with the agent that was used when we bought the current PPOR. Or the one for my Airbnb either. I feel everything was transparent when I was buying. For the PPOR we said how much we'd be willing to pay and it was up to the vendor to accept it or not. The ball was in our court as it was getting close to Christmas so I think the vendor just wanted it exchanged that year

Anyway, you don't have to be unsuccessful if you are genuine.

 

It depends on the job they do.

 

Neither.

A trust fund of course.

 

When an agent wont tell you what the other offers are and is asking for your best and final offer, is it safe to assume you have already submitted the best offer, as otherwise they would say what price you have to beat . Or is that the way things are sometimes done now . One agent asks for best and final offer doesnt give feed back. But other agents call me with latest offer and asks if i want to beat it.

 

No: if they tell you what price you have to beat (say $520K), you might just come back with $521K when you're actually prepared, if pushed, to go to $540K. Remember that the agent is working for the vendor and, despite appearances, is not your new best friend

 

But as I said they arent saying what price I have to beat. It is also not just about the best price offered. I have flexible terms and an unconditional offer I have found vendors will take over $10k less with an unconditional offer. Flexible settlement and unconditional offer worth way more than $1k. The vendor is selling to fund construction and is unsure when he will have a certificate for occupation. I will let my offer stand and see what happens. The agents are working for themselves just want to get deals closed, so they can get paid and move on to their next pay cheque they are selling before opens and have 2 week limits or they would be snowed under. I dont think agents have the time to spare to quievell with hundreds of people every week.

 

sellers market at the moment.

 

The best response in negotiating is “You have to do better than that!!”

It is amazing how many people/newbies don’t ask the obvious next question, they just give their answer .

 

Amen

 

When I'm negotiating to buy or sell a place I always have "3 business partners" I need to confer with. It allows me to negotiate hard while still always remaining the 'good cop' . Also gives me time to process and think without my first reaction giving away any signals to the agent. I simply say " I need to confer with the others ".

At the pointy end of the negotiation, " I actually think this price increase is a price I can live with Mr agent, but I know my two partners won't vote yes. They are fixed on X amount and won't budge. I can try convince them to sell if you meet them half way higher. Common Mr agent let's get this deal done, talk to your buyers and I'll talk to the other two." It's hard work convincing 2 alter egos to compromise

 

This is brilliant. And then only your name goes on the contract?

 

Yes.

My partners are always silent

 

Have you read Secrets of Power Negotiating by Roger Dawson? He has a chapter on that approach, you’ve done as he explained by making sure your higher authority is a vague entity so they seem unapproachable.

Some other notes from the book if anyone interested:

• Ask for more than you want because it resets expectations
• Never form a mental picture of how the other person will respond so that you a never caught off guard
• Flinch at proposals: when people make a proposal to you, they are watching for your reaction. They might not even think you’ll go along with their request. They’ve just thrown it out there to see your reaction
• Feel, felt, found method. The method buys yourself time to think and also creates trust instead of confrontation. Ie, I understand exactly how you feel about that, many other people have felt exactly the same way However, what we have actually found is that..
• Play reluctant buyer. Ie get the other person to commit first and keep asking questions and hearing them out, then finally ask what’s your sellers absolute bottom price?
• Just say ‘I’m sorry, you’ll have to do better than that’. Then just leave it, say nothing, this is the silent close
• Have a higher authority and make sure they are a vague entity because it appears to be unapproachable.
• Good cop bad cop. Ie if it was up to me, I’d love to keep on doing business with you but the other guys at the office only care about the lowest price
• Appeal to the other persons ego
• Set aside - let’s just set that aside for a moment and talk about some of the other issues, may we? Create momentum by resolving minor issues first
• When asked for a small concession, always ask for something in return. ‘If we can do that for you, what can you do for me?’
• Get the other persons point of view and see things from their angle
• Nibbling - once the other side has agreed to make any kind of purchase from you, it’s time for that second effort. The mind always likes to reinforce decisions that it has made earlier
• Taper concessions - the way you create concessions can create a pattern of expectation in the other persons mind. Do this to communicate the other person is getting the best possible deal. Ensure concessions get smaller and smaller
• Always congratulate the other side to service the perception that they’re winning
• Always project that you’re prepared to walk away, this is the most powerful technique
• Personal characteristics of power negotiators: courage to probe for more information, patience to outlast the other negotiator, courage to ask for more, integrity to press for a win win solution and willingness to be a good listener
• Attitudes of power negotiators; willingness to live with ambiguity, be resilient, a competitive spirit, don’t be conflict adverse and don’t worry about being liked - you want the other side to respect you, not like you

 

I use to listen to his cassette tapes while driving thru peak-hour traffic to work. Yeah, that was a long time ago.

When I arrived at work, I would look for opportunities to apply what I heard on his tapes to reinforce what I had learnt.

 

I have bought two properties via private sale, and there is no question that the buyer sets the price. reason is that the seller is TOTALLY invested in selling, and that there is very little agent BS. It is also evident when the poor seller 'tries it on', they are not generally very good at creating urgency or doubt in the mind of the buyer. So it is a normal sale, like it would be for anything.

Also i have found it to be very civil.

I have heard from others (more sophisticated than me) that they make friends with the seller. And that also helps.

There is an absence of BS and generally some reasonable goodwill. It is a really good way to buy a house

 

wouldn't work in Logan districts, we can smell a rat miles away

 

We buy 2-3 properties a week for clients in Logan and have great success using some of the tactics above. Close to half the properties we buy would be pre-market, which I think is crazy in this market. I think tactics work better in Logan than anywhere else. In higher quality OO areas closer to the city, the agents use the tactics on me.

The best is when we both use the silent close on each other. Usually I break the ice after 10 seconds by asking them if they’ve read the book. We have a laugh and generally go to get the desired outcome due to our newly build rapport. It’s an interesting game.