In addition to the myriad of other skills an excellent real estate agent should possess, an ability to successfully negotiate on their client’s behalf is near the top of the list. You would be shocked at how many agents simply are unable to constructively present their argument, and how many others hide from negotiations, or conversely, are so bombastic that that any validity their argument may have had is lost.
We believe in very assertive but non-adversarial tactics when dealing with other agents. There is no need to devolve a negotiation with egos to the point where the deal can’t be put together.
Jay is particularly well-suited in his role as negotiator. He was an insurance negotiator for several years prior to entering real estate, and was extensively trained by the company he worked for to continually upgrade his skill set. As a REALTOR®, he has successfully negotiated hundreds of real estate contracts, garnering some truly amazing deals for our buyers, and record prices for our sellers. We won’t go into his tactics here—trade secrets! 😊
Relying on hard data and knowledge of the property, the comparables and why your list or offer price is justified goes a long way, but there are other techniques that are important as well. For example— learning what really motivates the other party, and trying to structure a deal that they will find attractive while obtaining your desired goals involves more than just a price. There are other terms that are flexible and may garner a higher sales price (or lower sales price, if you are a buyer!).
In addition to great negotiators, you will also absolutely benefit when you hire agents that are creative problem solvers. During a real estate transaction, there are a wide range of things that can occur to “blow a deal up”. Again, you may find this hard to believe—but we have had deals with agents that were too lazy, too green, or too apathetic to try and keep a deal together at the first sign of an issue. By employing a proactive rather than reactive attitude, we have been able to save the “unsavable” deals, and close for our clients. With several hundred real estate transactions under our belt, we have encountered all sorts of different scenarios, and we have learned from every one of them how to make future transactions even better for our clients.