It’s very common, in today’s market, to be in multiple offer situations. You might have been working with a buyer for 4 months and because inventory is tight, you have just been waiting for the perfect home to pop up.
The home comes on the market and your buyer LOVES it! You submit an offer only to find out…
“Highest and best please…”
Inventory levels in many areas of the country are tight so this is happening quite a bit, but how do you get your offer to stand out? Let’s go over what not to do when negotiating.
Don’t text or email an offer
Technology has made many aspects of our job easier, but sometimes it can hurt us too. Real estate will always be a people business. Texting or emailing your offer is very cold. It’s important to make contact with the listing agent because they are the ones who are selling your offer to the seller. You should make efforts to “personalize” your offer which will help in getting your it accepted.
My sellers always ask my opinion on which offer is the strongest. When I have an idea of who I’m dealing with, their offer stands out. Other than price, sellers want to know about which offer is going to make it to the closing table. Knowing that an offer is from a first time buyer that is super excited vs. dealing with a money hungry investor can sway the seller to take one offer over the other. Don’t sell your clients short by not personalizing your offer! Sell your buyer to the listing agent whenever possible.
It would be a good idea to reach out to a listing agent before you submit an offer to let them know what’s coming and get as much information about the property activity before submitting. I would also suggest using video email to send it over. How many agents are using video email? You can read more about that CLICKING HERE.
Don’t Strong Arm Anybody
I hate when a cocky agent submits an offer on our listings. Our job is stressful enough and we don’t want to deal with some jerk who is having a bad day.
One of the members in our Facebook group reached out to me worried about an agent who tried to strong arm him. He was on the listing side of a deal and this agent told him he was going to report him to the board for whatever reason. The buyers agent was mad because someone else submitted an offer in the middle of their negotiation. The seller’s agent MUST disclose all offers to seller so the counter was changed to highest and best.
The buyers agent went on to strong arm him talking about how long he has been doing this, threats of taking some kind of legal action(no idea what kind of legal action since the listing agent was just doing their job), and used other language that was totally unnecessary.
Needless to say I’m pretty sure the other offer got the deal since they we essentially at the same price. Nobody wants another headache.
Don’t Tell Me How Long You’ve Been In The Business
It’s very condescending. Don’t be that agent who says, “sweetie….I’ve been in the business for
15-25 years let me tell you….”
I DON’T CARE.
Telling an agent how many deals you closed or how long you have had your license can offend someone. You are inferring that you are smarter than they are even though it might not be what you mean to say. I can tell you first hand that you are hurting the chances of your offer being accepted. This pisses agents off.
If you are dealing with a newer agent who is frustrating to deal with, just kill them with kindness. Instead of taking a harsh approach, instead take them under your wing and guide them with you years of wisdom. Who knows, maybe you’ll recruit them too!
Don’t Lie To Get A Deal Accepted
Lying to an agent about your buyer or seller qualifications to get a deal accepted will come back to haunt you in some way shape or form. It’s bad karma.
Believe it or not there are many agents who submit offers from buyers they might have just met for the first time. The buyer comes through a online portal and they show up to meet them at the property. The agent and the buyer don’t really know each other well, but the buyer wants the house, so the agent writes up the offer.
During negotiations the buyer’s agent is trying to sell how qualified this buyer is to the listing agent even though they barely know the buyer. Deal gets accepted and 4 days later the buyer goes MIA? I can bet that listing agent will not take your seriously next time.
We all want to close more deals, but I have found that the best policy for that is to be honest. Call me old fashioned, but what comes around certainly goes around. The real estate industry is a small field of agents and you will run in to them again.
Conclusion
Next time you are negotiating a deal on the buy or sell side, just use your common sense and treat others how you would expect to be treated. Yes, there will be some agents who will frustrate you, but just bite your tongue and treat them with respect. Personally, I like negotiating in kindness first and foremost. If things get ugly and as long as you are negotiating on facts, you can get aggressive later, but always start things out in a “nice way”.
Real estate is not a hard business, but it’s a hustle business. The question you should ask yourself is if you feel like you are in the right hustle?
Please comment below. I would love to hear from you.
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