How “Savvy” Negotiation Techniques Can Blow Up Your Badly Wanted Real Estate Deal

My mom is selling a rental property in Dallas. 

Great timing -- we’re in a seller’s market where bidding wars are normal. Still, selling real estate is a hassle, so we were thrilled that the sister and brother-in-law of our 20-year tenant offered to buy the condo for him. 

The deal: Mom won’t accept a higher offer and they pay asking price. 

When their written offer arrives it’s 5% lower than agreed, with a cash close. Mom doesn’t need the speed of a cash close, and they are the ones whose time is running out, as the tenant has been given notice. What are they thinking?

They then bump up their offer to a 2.5% discount.

This comes with an emotional letter trying to guilt my mother into a lower price. The buyer had no problem with the price when they wanted to lock the condo up, but now they want to pay less? WTF?

Buyers then agree to the original as-is price, subject to inspection.

Then come back with a price 2.5% lower after inspection for small cosmetic issues. What a surprise 🙄. 

This is real life, not The Art of the Deal. 

It’s not savvy negotiation to walk back a deal when nothing’s changed and the other party has all the leverage. It just pisses them off and makes you look unsophisticated and untrustworthy. They’ll find another buyer.

Know the difference between “if you don’t ask, you don’t get” and retrading a deal you don’t want to walk away from. Is losing it all worth pretending to be a big shot and seeing what you can get away with? 

Photo credit: Jonas Frey on Unsplash