DO BE QUIET AND LIS T AND LISTEN
Whether you are approached by the buyer or the buyer’s agent, remaining quiet is one of the best ways to negotiate the sale. Developing a feel-good, friendly relationship with either the buyer or his agent might lull you into dropping your guard and can interfere with your focused efforts to sell your home quickly and for a good price. Buyers who are uncomfortable with your silence may want to break it and, in doing so, end up providing too much information, crucial for you to know. Again, the more knowledgeable you are about the buyer, the better poised you will be in negotiations.
DON'T BE MOVED BY AWKWARD SILENCE
When you are in negotiations and the buyer makes an offer, don’t be compelled to respond immediately. Whether it be 10 seconds or 10 minutes, make the buyer or his/her agent speak first. They may see your silence as disappointment and choose to revise their offer or offer a concession just to break the silence. Conversely, do not let experienced negotiators use this same tactic to get you to accept successively lower offers without a counteroffer from you and your agent.
DO KNOW WHAT MOTIVATES THE B TES THE BUYER
Sometimes buying agents will work to learn why you want to sell your home. Agents know that sellers want to go to escrow only once. If the buyer is advised to demand a lower price because of minor defects discovered during a third-party home inspection, they will use this as a negotiating tool. More importantly, an agent for the buyer may advise his client to offer the asking price in the full knowledge that minor flaws exist, only to later demand reductions and bring the offer down to what the buyer actually wanted to pay in the first place.
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