A.D. Cantelmo Property Management
Our Business is Property Management in Orange County California
How
do you negotiate a better deal?
I always hear about how a great
Realtor can negotiate a better deal, so the question is how?
Negotiating anything is a skill,
whether you are buying a new car, or a new home, or signing a better lease, and
there is a very fundamental reason why some people negotiate with success and
others fail.
When I first started in the Real
Estate business, my original Broker said something to me that I found very
useful. He said that when you are in the middle of a negotiation, the first one
to talk loses. At first it sounded too simple, but as I learned, it was one of
the best lesions I have ever learned when it comes to negotiating.
First Success
My first successful negotiation
came when my clients wanted to put an offer on a small condo in Leisure World
in Seal Beach. We made the offer and the listing agent rejected it without any
counter offer. I told my clients that we should just wait. The hardest part was
convincing my clients that we should not respond, since they really wanted the
condo, but I was able to convince them. In fact a couple of days later I
convinced them to go back into Leisure World and look at other properties. As
we were looking at a couple of other properties, I received a call from the
listing agent and she wanted to know why I did not respond to her rejection. I
told her that since she did not counter, we decided to look at other properties
and in fact we were in Leisure World right now. As soon as she called me, I
understood that we were going to get the property, even before she said
anything. I realized that what my Broker told me was true. The listing agent
talked first and lost her negotiating strength and my clients bought the
property at our original offer.
In a successful negotiation, a
Realtor has to have their client on board. Having the trust of your client is
the only way it will work. The only way to negotiate successfully is to have
the ability to be able to walk away from any deal. If your client is in love
with the home and has to have it, you may actually be doing the client a
disservice if you try and hold out, and they lose the house.
The state of the market will be a factor
The state of the
Real Estate Market will also dictate how much you will be able to negotiate and
also the strength of your client.
Right now, the rental market is in
the Landlords favor and potential Tenants are in no position to negotiate a
better lease, the same goes for buying a home, the lack of inventory puts
sellers in a good position. If a Tenant or buyer wants to negotiate in this
type of environment, they may be looking for a long time, but if they are
patient, and they are not fixed on any one property or one area, they may get
what they want eventually.
Sometimes when the market is hot,
instead of a negotiator, a Realtor becomes more of a cheerleader for their
clients. If for example there are two or more offers on a property, it is the
Realtors job to be more a salesman of their client then a negotiator. Being
what your client needs is much more important than being what people think you
should be.
If you really want to be a good negotiator,
learn how to walk away. Just like my first negotiating success, walking away
does work, you just need to understand, you will lose some of those
negotiations. Always remember, the people on the other side are anxious just
like your clients, so putting more pressure on them will only make your
negotiation more successful, but your clients will also be pushing against you
and your steadiness will be a vital piece of the negotiation puzzle.
A.D. Cantelmo Property
Management Specializes in Property Management in Orange County
Ca.