You shouldn’t be as blunt as that when you’re chatting with the buyers, but you can often find the answers to these questions in a roundabout way. For example, you could say, “You will love our town because of the X (insert a unique feature of your town). Do they have an X where you live now?” That will start the conversation about where they are moving from. You can learn a lot from what they say. It will be helpful during the negotiations. You would be amazed at what some people will tell you.
COMMON NEGOTIATING MISTAKE #2: MEETING IN THE MIDDLE
This is the most common mistake novice home sellers make. It’s the easiest way to sell your home for $10,000 less than you should. “Meeting in the middle” is never a good strategy. The problem is that everyone thinks they have to do it. There is no rule book that says you must meet in the middle. Here’s a story that illustrates this. A home was on the market for $240,000. The buyers made an offer for $220,000. The seller’s agent told him to reject the offer and told the buyers’ agent they should come back with a better offer. (The house had only been on the market two days.) The buyers came back and met in the middle with a $230,000 offer. The seller’s agent knew they were serious buyers who really wanted the house.
The seller thought the buyers were being good people by meeting
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