An agent called me for feedback after I showed my client her listing. I relayed my buyer’s likes and dislikes as to why the property was over-priced in their estimation.
Then in “agent code” she whispered in my ear the magic words “They are motivated sellers.”
Oh yes- I’m sure you’ve noticed that real estate professionals are like secret agents – there are code words and phrases that mostly mean the opposite of the actual words.
“Cozy” equals tiny.
“City-Like” means the train tracks run through your living room.
“Motivated” often translates as “Sellers getting desperate” or “Please make an offer I’m close to losing the listing and Xmas is coming!”
As a Buyer Advisor I lick my negotiating chops when I hear those words.
As a Seller Representative, I cringe when an agent says something like that.
This agent has unwittingly given me a HUGE amount of leverage on behalf of my buyer.
Of course, motivated might not mean desperate. It could mean “more flexible” or becoming more “market realistic”.
It could also mean “I’ve got an accepted offer on new home and I need to sell this one ASAP!”.
Either way, the door has been opened.
A “Reality” TV show I enjoy is “Pawn Stars” (not to be confused with another favorite “Hard Core Pawn”- notice the adult entertainment play on words – isn’t that clever?)
It’s intriguing to observe what and why people pawn. More interesting to me is the study in negotiation expertise on the part of Rick, one of the family owners.
One of his skills is not to disclose his desire when he comes across an item he wants to acquire for his personal collection. He lets the person pawning the item talk until he gets them to reveal how much they want- and then the fun begins.
While he wants to get the best deal possible, he’s also quite fair and has often paid more than he could have because it was the right thing to do.
In negotiation there are many potential advantages- and “shut up and listen” is one of the more powerful.
Now please, tell me more…..
