Is There Any Flexibility in the Sales Price for that House?

Agents have all kinds of ways they attempt to negotiate but the one that works.

Buyer’s agents who ask is there any flexibility in the sales price are really asking the listing agent if the seller will take less. You might wonder who would ask this sort of question? Or, maybe, what kind of responses would they receive? All sorts of agents ask this question. They ask because sometimes listing agents in Sacramento do not stop to think. They get caught up in the moment, forget about their fiduciary relationship to the seller and, as such, they can commit one of the worst blunders a listing agent could ever do. They could lose their real estate license. Yet, they spill the beans. And let’s talk about spilling the beans.

For starters, a listing agent who delivers messages without authority is in a heap of trouble. Further, even if the agent knows the answer or thinks she knows the answer, she doesn’t. You know why? Because she’s not inside her sellers’ heads. Try as I might, I cannot crawl into a seller’s gooey brain. Oh, geez, now I’m imagining Dr. Thackery on The Knick poking that long needle into that addict’s brain on Season 2. Further, what a seller tells me one day might not be true the following day. Things change. Circumstances can dictate different answers in direct opposition to the facts one thought she knew 2 minutes ago.

I take nothing for granted. When a buyer’s agent asks me is there any flexibility in the sales price, I tell them I don’t know. I don’t know because like I said, I don’t really know. But I do know how to find out.

You know how you find out? You write a purchase offer. I deliver the purchase offer to my seller and my seller makes a decision. We may discuss pros, cons and other strategies, but I never tell anybody what to do. Not my house. Not my monkey. I may offer alternatives, but the seller has the final say in the matter.

Please don’t tell me the buyer is “in love with the house” but won’t pay list price. People who are in love move heaven and earth for their heart’s desire. If you want to make sure you can buy the house, you write the offer at list price. In today’s real estate market, sometimes even list price is not enough. If a buyer’s agent asks if I have any offers and I hear of an offer coming, I tell them I have been told I will receive an offer but I don’t have it yet. Moreover, if I counted every offer as received that an agent promised was on its way, I would own an island in French Polynesia.

Sometimes it sounds like an agent is pressing for an answer because, as you know, the agent don’t want to waste his time. Wha? That’s the name of the game; it’s the job, write offers and negotiate. You might win, you might lose. That’s how you sell Sacramento real estate. There are no guarantees that a seller will take any offer, much less yours. You want a guarantee? You buy a certificate of deposit. You want to buy a home, you negotiate. There is no answer to is there any flexibility in the sales price for that house until an offer is submitted. Period.