Softened-Up Sellers Do lowball offers ever work? Absolutely — just not in the way most would-be lowballers might expect. Instead of stealing the property from the Seller at a fire sale price, more often than not what they really serve to do is soften up the Seller for an offer from another Buyer. White Gray...Read More
Firmer Lines in the Sand? “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.” –“Cool Hand Luke” A couple years ago, when you heard a Buyer’s agent characterize their client’s position as “final,” it almost never was. Today, it seems like the opposite is more common, i.e., Buyers’ agents — especially agents representing first-time Buyers...Read More
The Book on First Buyers The first buyer is the best Buyer. –Real estate lore The first offer from the first Buyer is seldom their best offer. –Corollary; Graham Smith, Edina Realty I heard the second observation at a seminar led by Edina Realty’s Graham Smith yesterday. From experience, I can endorse both sentiments, with...Read More
Uses — and Limitations — of Email All the emoticons in the world are a poor substitute for conveying basic human emotions like empathy, amusement, disappointment, resolve — and a million other subtle nuances. Email also has a way of being misconstrued, or coming across harsher than intended. So, for letting a client know (at...Read More
Real Estate Negotiation 101 Real estate agent and trainer Rich Levin is the author of “Top Ten Negotiating Rules for Realtors.” I can personally attest to the validity of the first two: One. Don’t go back and forth between a buyer and seller more than twice. Two. Don’t let the buyer and seller come to...Read More
“East is East and West is West” From experience, here are two good rules of real estate negotiation: Rule #1. Never argue the “comp’s” with the other side. A comp, or comparable sold property, is a similar, nearby home that has sold recently. To determine fair market value, Realtors and appraisers alike typically look for...Read More
