How to conduct a negotiation with a realtor

[Juan Correia]

I'm really trying to find ways of hacking the negotiation with the seller's realtor... I don't trust they provide the proposals I make, and I have the feeling that they are not serving their customer's best interest on the process...

[Mike Cumbie]

Hi @Juan Correia,

There is no real way to be sure. Especially a verbal! There is nothing that the seller is required to do for any offer. For instance you are not required to respond to anything I send you (Sometimes they believe they have "Already wasted enough time entertaining this and won't spend another second proving it". In our area we have a form where an agent can require the other agent to "Certify" they presented the offer, however buyers typically don't have the ability to make a sellers agent sign it. It is a board form and the "authority" would be the RE board. (Now if you have proof or something then it would be a legal thing through the Department of State)

In your example the house is listed at 100K and you believe it's worth 80K (possibly the agent does as well, but the seller says 100K). I go to the seller and say "Hey you got a 70K offer, if you are even considering it, let me drop the price to 90K and market it like that. I don't suggest taking a 70% hit without even trying to get more". Their best interest is letting me do a price drop somewhere between, not just accepting 30K less. My duty is to them and if I think it's closer to 80K odds are I'm going to use your offer as a bargaining chip to get the overpriced property listed more in line with where it should be. The seller will be well aware of your offer, but it's not like we are always or even often going to counter in those instances. 

Good Luck!