How to Get Your Listings Sold: A Complete Guide to Offers and Negotiation

One of the toughest challenges in real estate is getting realistic offers accepted when an owner has unrealistic expectations. And bridging the final 5-10% gap is the hardest part of the process.

This guide covers setting your listing up so offers land well in the first place, and how to get over that final hurdle when a deal can feel so close, yet so far away!

It's a real deep dive, chock full of detailed scripts you can start using immediately. So grab a coffee, turn your phone off and settle in for a good read.

This could make the difference between a withdrawn listing and your next big payday.

Let me start by saying...

Don't beat yourself up if you're struggling to get deals over the line in this market. We've all been there. Real estate is a tough gig. It's standard practice for owners to want more than what the market thinks is realistic.

Our job is to find out what a property is worth, and turn interest into offers, whatever that market level price might be. But the real magic happens when we find a way to turn those offers into sales and have our owners walk away satisfied with the service, even if the price is lower than they originally hoped.

The work starts long before the offer arrives

It starts at the appraisal and carries on throughout the marketing process. You'll get more offers accepted if you:

• Discuss price correctly at the appraisal and listing meetings
• Meet with your owners in person every 2 weeks while on the market
• Avoid sugarcoating buyer interest at all costs
• Prepare your owners for every possible outcome

Discussing price correctly at the appraisal

Always base your price opinions on market facts. What sales can you point to that support your view? At the same time, you don't want to limit hopes at that point, because you can't rule out a high price coming in from a buyer who falls in love with the home.

Here's an example script that works:

"Mr & Mrs Seller, here are the recent sales of similar-sized homes in your area. What are you hoping to get for your home? (Pause). Ok great. If that price is out there, I'm confident we have the marketing plan to find it. When I appraise your home I have to base my value range on facts, which are the recent sales I've shown you. But please understand that I don't want to have any preconceived limitations on what we might achieve. My job is to go out and get you the absolute best price the market is prepared to pay at this time, whatever that might be."

Vendor meeting price discussions

One of the biggest mistakes agents make is skipping vendor review meetings. Just sending a feedback report by email is never enough. You have to regularly meet with your owners face to face (or on a Zoom call if out of town) to understand where they're at, and to give them a realistic overview of the current market:

"Mr & Mrs Seller, we've had 12 groups through so far, which is ok, but a little less than I'd hoped for. I'm going to adjust the advert headline and change the main photo to see if we can spark more interest. I'm also going to send another notification out to our database to remind everybody what a wonderful home this is. Of the 12 groups that have visited so far, 3 of them are showing some interest, but no one is talking about offering as yet, and none of them have booked a second viewing at this stage. Let's see how the next open home goes and meet again next week to review progress...

...By the way, you are doing a wonderful job on the presentation, and thank you for being so accommodating with viewing times. You are doing everything right to get the best possible price for your home."

This sort of wording helps owners avoid falling into the confirmation bias trap. It would be so easy for them to see 12 buyer viewings and think that guarantees at least 2-3 offers. Remember, owners are new to the whole selling thing. They don't understand how hard it is to secure offers.

Avoid sugar-coating buyer interest

Your key buyer has just come back for a second viewing with their entire family. You call the owners to update them after the viewing:

"Hey Mr Seller, yes the buyers came through and they brought their parents this time. They are definitely interested but they still have to work through things with the bank, lawyer, builder etc. So this is positive but the real sign of interest is when we receive a signed offer, and at this stage that is certainly not guaranteed. Rest assured, I'll be doing everything I can to make it easy for them to offer, and to get the best possible price when they do. Ideally, we need a few more viewings like this because it's very common for buyers to show interest and then pull out at the last minute, especially in this market."

It's ok to be positive about visits with your owners. No one wants to be a Debbie-Downer. But wrap that positivity in some realism too, so your owners don't get carried away thinking their high-price dreams are about to come true.

Prepare your owners for every outcome

Deadline day is tomorrow and you hope to have 3 offers coming in, but nothing is guaranteed until they arrive on your desk:

"Mr & Mrs Seller, with the deadline approaching, I want to run you through what could happen tomorrow. There is a possibility we get no offers, in which case I'll still come meet with you and we'll talk about our plan B. Rest assured we have strategies we can employ to get your home moving if this is the case. There is also a possibility we get one offer or multiple offers which you don't like. In that case, I'll encourage you to counter-sign the best available offer so we can try to get them to a point that would work for you. Lastly, we may get one offer or multiple offers which you find acceptable. If that happens, you can still negotiate if you like, and you can take some time to think about it before making a decision if needed. At this stage, we have 3 groups showing possible signs of offering, but I haven't received any written offers as yet, so anything could happen. Please be ready for any of the possible outcomes I mentioned."

So when they do flip out at the "offensive" price, you can calmly respond with:

"Just like I mentioned. This can happen. Buyers rarely come in at their top price. Like everyone, they are scared of making a mistake. Let's counter-sign the offer as we talked about and see if they can come up. If this was a cash, unconditional offer with a good settlement date, what would you be prepared to accept?"

The trap most salespeople fall into

It's natural human nature that when we want another person to do something, like accept an offer you've worked your butt off to secure, we try to convince them why it's a good idea. We try to sell them on it.

So when a negotiation stalls $20k, $50k or $100k apart, salespeople start offering reasons and justifications why the seller should bite the bullet and make a deal:

• "The buyers are offering this much because they need to fix all the problems with your home."
• "The house down the road which is similar to yours sold for less."
• "Nothing in this area has sold as high as this in the last 2 years."
• "If we don't take this offer today, the buyers are going to offer on another house."
• "Your home has X,Y,Z problems which are putting other buyers off, so you should take this deal."
• "These buyers have been looking for 4 months, they know the market."

The problem is, this plan of attack moves you into an argumentative situation. It automatically puts your owners on the defensive. As soon as you present reasons why they should take an offer lower than their original goal price, their brain will naturally start coming up with counter-reasons why you are wrong, to help convince themselves they are right.

Owners walk into every selling situation worried that they are going to be taken advantage of. They're on the defensive from the moment their home goes on the market, looking out for how they're going to get screwed. As soon as you start trying to convince them to do something they inherently don't want to do, their internal warning alarm starts firing, telling them to stop, pause, and avoid danger at all costs.

That's why when negotiations get hard, and someone has to move beyond a price where they feel comfortable, everything grinds to a halt. It feels crazy as a salesperson to watch buyers and sellers walk away from deals that are oh-so-close, but we have to understand it's an emotional barrier, not a financial one, that stops progress.

There is a better way.

Justifications for accepting an offer have their place, but only after you've overcome the emotional barriers holding back the negotiation.

Sellers sell with emotion, then justify with logic.

To overcome emotional barriers, it has to be the owner's decision to accept less than they originally wanted. Once they've made that call, your list of justifications will help them feel even better about the decision they've already made. The logic always comes second.

So how do we make it their idea to accept an offer?