Mind Strategies

The best negotiator I know is my daughter, Emma. Emma is nicknamed, “The Lawyer” by her after school teachers. Why? Because she negotiates with persistence. Emma climbs on you and doesn’t take no for an answer. I don’t tend to discourage it because that persistence will do her well in life.

Emma is an excellent negotiator with an unusual yet successful technique. But she is missing one strategy that is less straight forward from her arsenal. Mind negotiating.

At ECHO, we are hired to get deals done. Here are 9 Seller and Buyer “Mind Strategies” we use to get a deal across the finish line….

Seller Mind Strategies

1. Let them see another buyer.

Yes, I’ve timed this so the Buyer sees another buyer coming out of the house before they come in or right after they arrive. The anxiety it creates is delicious.

2. Don’t return a call.

Nothing makes me prouder than getting a call from an outside agent complaining that our agent didn’t get back to them. It’s almost always because we are deploying mind strategies. Americans like to get deals done. The rest of the world is much more patient in negotiations. Sometimes you have to act like the rest of the world. Slooooow it down. Silence creates anxiety. We want the Buyer to call up their agent and say out loud, “What if there is another buyer out there?!?”

3. Sunday Open House.

At times the biggest purpose of an open house is to have it for negotiating power. If I’m showing a home on a weekday and the buyers agent says, “can we get back in for a second showing”, I make sure to invite them to a Sunday open house. The Buyer then feels the loss of someone taking away their home. If they want it, they work to get the deal done before Sunday and insist they want the open house cancelled.

4. Don’t want to insult them.

Get them to counter their counter.

If the offer is low, much of the time, I want the Buyer to counter their own counteroffer. “My client doesn’t want to insult them if they really can’t afford this home. Please thank your clients for their interest.” To me this works much better than the tired, “They were insulted!!!!” This reverses it. Now it’s the Buyer who is insulted politely. The goal is to get the counter up before you start splitting the difference going back and forth. Not so easy to do and it takes a good agent to read the situation before executing.

Buyer Mind Strategies

1. Wait till next year.

That is a typical saying from us Miami Dolphins fans. It’s a nightmare when a Seller hears that as they know the Buyer can walk away.

2. Don’t return a call!

Silence can be useful in negotiation. Unless of course you want the house desperately.

3. Say nothing!

We train our clients to give very limited feedback when showing. The less you say the better. The quiet types are the hardest to read.

4. Talk about other homes you’re going to see!

It’s good to talk about other homes you are looking at. This lets the listing agent know there is plenty of interest. Also, its best to talk about other areas. The less they are married to an area, the more edge it gives the Buyer and tells the Seller that they don’t have to buy.

5. Going to go look on Sunday.

A listing agent’s worst nightmare is they might find something else. It’s always best from a Seller perspective to wrap deals up once the Buyer is ready. I’ve used this line to a listing agent many times. “See if you can get your clients to accept. I’m already getting the vibes of let’s go look at “these” on Sunday.”

Bonus Mind Negotiation

If all else fails, remind them if the deal doesn’t get done, that one spouse is going to talk about not selling or buying the house they wanted F-O-R-E-V-E-R. That mind strategy might be the best of them all.

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WILL DEAN started as Echo’s real estate rental specialist in 2014 and learned the business by handling over 100 transactions annually. Rentals are hard as a million variables can present themselves. The invaluable part was not can Will multi task but he handle a great amount of stress and learned the neighborhoods in the Northern Palm Beaches better than anyone else. Today Will focuses on single family luxury homes with an added emphasis in the Bay Hill Estates and Preserve communities. Will did North of $10,000,000 in sales and earned Echo Fine Properties Intracoastal Achievement Award. Will has sold in every country club and over in over 100 separate communities combined. If you want a Realtor that will always go above and beyond while giving 150%, Will is the one for you. His strong passion for Real Estate coupled with his love of finding the perfect home for his clients often has him in the office from sunrise until well after sunset. “It’ll be 8:30PM on a Friday night and I’m in the office. No one will work harder for you than Will Dean.”

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