A few negotiation tips to use appropriately

Here are a few negotiationtips to be kept in mind if you are buying or selling a home.  Always stay focused on completing the sale: That is your main goal! 

1) Don’t go back and forth too many times.  On the third round of negotiations, buyers and sellers stop focusing on the goal of buying or selling a home at the right price.  The parties make it a personal issue, that has much to do with personalities and character, far removed from the deal at hand

2) When you concede to something during the negotiations, always ask for a concession in return. In doing this you are keeping the plane even with the other party.

3) Never take the first offer too quickly 

4) Get the other party to negotiate with himself.  Here is a true story:  Instead of coming back with a counter-offer, a seller responded that he likes everything about the offer except the price, forcing the interested buyer to raise his price without any indication from the other party of where the ceiling may be.  I would caution however that in a buyer’s market like the one we are facing today, this strategy can backfire for the seller.  Buyers may very well walk away to a similar property where the seller is more motivated to make a deal happen.