Benefits of working with a professional real estate
agent, specifically the negotiation process from a real estate agent’s perspective.
Now, the important thing about negotiation is to
realize that you have to start negotiating from the very beginning. As a real
estate agent whether you're working with the buyer or the seller, it's very
important for them to understand what it takes to be successful in the current
market.
For example, here are some of the things that the
client needs to understand. What kind of market is it? Is it a seller's market or
a buyer's market? The negotiating
process is very different under those two structures. Then of course, how does
the type of house and location impact the negotiation.
If the buyer wants a rambler and ramblers are in
short supply in that particular area, then that's going to have some kind of an
impact on the negotiation. Also, if the house is on the most popular street in
town or the least desirable street in town that will also have some impact on
the negotiation. Then what happens if the house is overpriced for the market from
the beginning or if it's underpriced? Obviously,
if it's overpriced, that will reduce the number of offers that are received and
if it is underpriced, it will greatly increase the number of buyers with whom
your buyer has to compete. Lastly, you must
thoroughly understand with your client what his or her goals and capabilities
are. By this, I mean if the goal is to
have a house on a certain street but those homes are a little bit more out of
the price range than your client can afford, they may say, “Well, we'll just
buy a fixer-upper on that street,” but are they capable of fixing the property
and do they have the kind of loan that will allow them to buy that kind of a
fixer-upper.
So really, negotiation starts with your own client
to fully inform them about what's going on in the market, what's possible, and
what are they capable of and what are they willing to do in our current market?
Almost everywhere in the country it's a hot seller's market and this means that
buyers are going over list price, they're not getting closing help.
Sellers are typically not fixing anything and if
your buyer doesn't understand those conditions in of that market up front it's
going to be a very difficult and very discouraging process so all agents must
start negotiating with their own clients. After that, once you have a willing
buyer and a willing seller and a certain house that you are looking at, it
becomes very important to negotiate from a position which I’ll describe as being
unattached to the outcome.
Your buyer needs to make an offer that you think
will be successful and the seller needs to have expectations that are
consistent with the market and then the two agents work together in a
dispassionate and matter-of-fact way to help both buyer and seller win. We want
to create a win-win situation so that we have happy buyers and happy sellers at
the settlement table.
For more detailed answers to these questions or any
other I would love the opportunity to discuss with you. Please feel free to reach out to me at any
time with your thoughts and questions.