CHANGING THE SELLERS “EXPECTATIONS” SHARON VORNHOLT
hen was the last time you came
I can tell you from experience if you sit quietly
across a seller that had completely
and listen; you will get valuable clues about
unrealistic expectations about what
what is really important to them and what their
their house should sell for?
true motivation is. They will simply tell you if
you listen. There is always “something else”;
If you are a real estate investor, it was probably the
something other than money that they want or
last time you looked at a house. A big part of
need in addition from this negotiation.
becoming a successful real estate investor is learning
how to change those expectations. The trick is to do
Once you have this piece of information, your
this and have them still feel like they got what they
chances of putting together a deal that is a
wanted out of the negotiations.
“win-win”
for
both
of
you
increases
dramatically.
One of the best skills you can develop and probably
one of the hardest to learn is the skill of listening;
How Do You Change the Seller’s
really listening to what the seller has to say. And yes,
Expectations?
sometimes it is a painful process. It usually involves
at least 30 minutes of hearing about all of the history
of this house and all of the past and current problems
they and their family have encountered.
I have found that I usually need to
do this in stages. Most of the time, I
am able to begin this process when
I take that first phone call. After they
have told me all the problems with
the house, I simply repeat all of
them
back
to
the
seller
and
comment that those repairs and
updates will be costly.