Selling Your Property – Winning At Negotiations

There are winners and losers in the vast majority of negotiations on the sale of a property. More often than not, the parties don’t know what they are until weeks or months have passed.

As a seller, it is very easy to come out a loser in negotiations these days. The current real estate market is ice cold, which is another way of saying it is a buyers’ market. With tons of homes on the market and a limited number of buyers, sellers can easily end up giving away the farm.

The key to not losing your shirt is very simple. Before you put the home on the market, make absolutely sure you know what you want out of the transaction. We are not talking about a fuzzy idea or generalities such as “a lot of money”. We are talking about a hard, cold bottom line figure.

“I will absolutely not take less than $59,000 out of the deal” is exactly the type of statement you should come up with. You are essentially drawing a line in the sand. Now you have to be disciplined enough to stick to it. If negotiations on the offer or during escrow start undercutting your figure, walk away from the deal!

Now, you have to be realistic when coming to your bottom line figure. If the homes in your neighborhood are selling for $200,000 to$250,000, you probably are not going to have much success listing yours for $350,000 with a rock bottom sales prices in your mind of $300,000.

It is important that you don’t focus excessively on your bottom line number. It is a worse case scenario, not a negotiating point. You should ask for more and negotiate hard to get it. With the bottom line number in the back of your mind, however, you can do so knowing you are going to come out of the transaction meeting or exceeding your goals.

There is a cliché when it comes to negotiations that is true. Losers figure out what they want during the negotiation while winners do it before the negotiations ever start. Make sure you are a winner or risk serious remorse of the transaction.

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