How Can I Become a Real Estate Negotiation Expert?

1. Recognize the value of your negotiating skills

You must appreciate the worth of your negotiating skills as a real estate agent. After all, people are paying you for this. There will be 10, 20, 30, or even more negotiations in any transaction, covering everything from when you can enter the property to the contents and exclusions of the contract, so you need to be prepared.

You must set aside time and money to invest in yourself as a negotiator because your negotiation abilities will have a significant impact on your actual outcomes. In actuality, you ought to be working on this every day.

Your ability to negotiate is best measured by your ability to negotiate for yourself. If you cannot negotiate a full fee for yourself… how can you expect to negotiate top dollar for your clients. The idea that you can negotiate for yourself in one way (e.g., sure, I’ll lower my fee) and then negotiate more effectively for your clients is ridiculous.

The goal in real estate is not to work harder and make less. The goal is the exact opposite. By committing yourself to continuously improving your skills as a negotiator, you’ll never have to cut your fees, and you can maximize your earning potential.

2. Practice every day

The best real estate negotiation experts practice constantly, role-playing negotiations every day. They’re aware of all of the common negotiations that are bound to pop up in most deals—negotiations about commissions, requests for repairs, closing date flexibility, contingencies, and more.

When you don’t practice, you will do what’s familiar and what’s comfortable in each negotiation. And it’s unlikely that approach will be most effective. By setting aside part of each day for role-playing exercises, you can develop your skills over time and make better deals because of it.

3. Know your ideal outcome ahead of time

Never get involved in a real estate deal without having a desired outcome in mind. Knowing your ideal outcome ahead of time frames how you’re going to negotiate. For example, if you’re representing a seller, you will want to anchor the other side to a high price. If you’re representing a buyer, you’ll want to anchor them to a low price.

To illustrate, imagine you’re selling a house for $700,000 and a buyer comes in with a $600,000 offer. At this point, most agents automatically meet in the middle at $650,000. In such a scenario, why not counter at $695,000 instead? It absolutely has an influence on the other side’s next move.

4. Be willing to learn from your mistakes

When you’re just starting out as a realtor, you know nothing. The only way to learn how to negotiate effectively is by going through the motions and learning from experience. The best real estate negotiation experts are willing to make mistakes and learn from them. In fact, many of them know they are going to make mistakes, and they’re perfectly fine with that. If you’re new to real estate, being around people who are experienced is absolutely critical to your success. It’s hard to learn how to negotiate when you’re never around any deals.