Is Your Agent Working For You?

Real Estate Agents are all Different

Recently I was engaged as a Buyers Agent for a client who was a family member of another client.  We had looked for several months as it was an older couple looking for a retirement home and they had some very specific requirements. We finally found the home they would eventually buy and made an offer to purchase.  The offer my clients made was based on condition of the home and comparable sales data provided by myself.  This data and their offer was an accurate representation of where the home should have been priced.  However, the offer was significantly below the listing price.  This offer did not sit well with the listing agent.  

Once an offer is submitted, the agents begin to talk with each other about their respective clients.  This is where a lot of information can be gained to help out our clients negotiation.  A good agent will protect their clients position only revealing what is necessary to get the contract accepted and not disclosing anything about the price the client is willing to pay.  This particular Seller's Agent would try to probe me for information to relay back to the seller, however, I was able to dodge the questions and keep our negotiation on track.  The Sellers Agent had also tried to justify the overpricing by mentioning features to the lot and home that were irrelevant to the price.  A new or inexperienced agent might allow the Seller's Agent to influence their communication with the Buyer resulting in a better price for the Seller.  This does not happen with Reconnect Realty.  The Seller ended up accepting the offer $32,000 below list price which was 89% of List, although this did take a few weeks to accomplish.  This was good for my client but the negotiating was not finished yet.

Our next step was to get through the inspections and request items the buyer felt were needing to be taken care of by the seller.  We submitted our requests and again the Sellers Agent was not happy.  Anytime you ask the Seller to reduce or fix something, it reduces their end price for the property so naturally they are not going to want to fix things.  It also means the Sellers Agent has more work to do.  This Sellers Agent again tried to bully us to believe that my client should not have asked for certain repairs.  They had forgotten that everything is negotiable in Real Estate.  We believe that if our client asks for something or are uncomfortable with a scenario, then we are going to do what is necessary to correct the issue.  Again, it took some negotiating but we were able to get the Seller to agree to many important repairs and deferred maintenance items which saved my clients over a thousand dollars!

What is important about this story is how a Seller's Agent can influence a Buyer's Agent if the Buyer's Agent is not experienced at negotiating.  Price and Terms are able to be influenced so a Buyer or Seller needs to be careful about who they select to negotiate for them.  Negotiating is a skill that takes time to develop.  A little preparation and a few conversations can save a client Tens of Thousands of Dollars and make a purchase easier to close.  

Steve Prane

Broker

Reconnect Realty

(314) 771-4222

http://www.FindStLouisHomes.com