Always Create a Counter Offer

You would have noticed most time – that a seller will get offended by a low-ball offer and refuse to make a counter offer. In my opinion, for a Seller, it is “almost” always worth a shot to counter back to a buyer with a reasonable price, even if they submitted a low offer. If you are an agent, you must counsel your client (very early) that sellers who can disengage their emotions about the home and view the sale as a business transaction, tend to do better than sellers making emotional decisions during the sale. I am not saying this is easy, but a good agent can really help by talking you through this process and making it easier.

Some real estate listing agents won’t spend the time required to type-up a counter offer unless the original offer is “in the ballpark”. They therefore might counsel their seller clients to wait for another, “more legitimate” offer. Honestly it really doesn’t take that much time to draft-up a counter offer, and you can make the duration of the offer a single day if you like. Unexpected things happen to people every single day and even if an offer does not appear to be “serious”, you never know until you ask.

I would put this in the category of “a million little things done right”. I have seen buyers where the wife or the husband felt compelled to create a low-ball offer, simply because they thought that that was “just the way things were done”. I have even seen situations when the other member disagreed, and went along with it simply to support their spouse. BUT, when the counter offer came back from the seller, the spouse who was in disagreement with the low offer simply stated “Now it is my turn” and submitted a legitimate offer. You just never know. I do not recommend endless back and forth offers if there is no significant movement towards common ground, but I do suggest that in most cases, at least one volley back across the fence is worth the effort.

Negotiating a Real Estate Deal
Art of Negotiating A Real Estate Deal
Structuring a Real Estate Offer
Tools for Negotiating a Real Estate Deal
Personal Communication When Buying Real Estate
Unwanted Emotions While Negotiating A Real Estate Deal
Low Price War in Real Estate
Negotiate With Data in Real Estate
Use Proper Timing To Negotiate Real Estate Deals
Ask Inappropriate Questions While Negotiating A Real Estate Deal
Making a Counter Offer While Negotiating Real Estate Deal
Incentives Can be Offered by Buyers or Sellers

Strategic Buyers Guide in Real Estate
Strategically Sealing A Real Estate Deal