Real Estate Negotiating Bible Tip #4, Formula to Get Offers Accepted

Always remember our negotiating equation is … IP+AP=YS

Identify the Problem

+ Agitate the Problem

=Your Solution

I hope you liked my little equation above. It truly is the secret to my success and can be for you as well. Warning: The information I’m going to share with you is for SERIOUS real estate investors. I’ve received some drawback from people that have bought my ninja negotiating training and felt I was too harsh. The training below is graphic and very descriptive and only intended for people that want to prepare themselves to get the best deal when talking to home owners. All of the bad critics I’ve received were from people NOT in the business. From my training, this is the best way to get deeply discounted houses.

When you’re talking to sellers, remember that LISTENING is a lost art form in our country. Just think about how much money psychiatrists and therapists get paid to simply listen to their clients. Why on earth would we need to pay a person to listen to us then offer no solutions but merely let us figure out our own solutions by talking out our problems? Sounds crazy but I too, have a therapist. Sometimes when I’m done with my heavily watched 45 min session, I wonder if I should be charging her for my stories… anyway, this is exactly what your seller is looking for as well. They simply want somebody to listen to their story. A friend of mine used to say “Kris, an open ear is priceless.” I truly believe that and take it very seriously. Let’s think, when was the last time you had a person sit down and simply listen to your life situations, your feelings, your problems and emotions?? I know for me, I can’t even share most of my issues with my wife because she just doesn’t listen to me. She feels like I should just get tough and don’t show any emotion. I {being me} don’t have time to get emotional, she says. Even in marriages, spouses don’t take the time to listen to one another. Even when the few times my wife has sat and talked with me about me, she’s usually watching TV, or cooking or pre-occupied with another task so I never really get her undivided attention. Taking the time to honestly and earnestly listen to the seller will pay you exponentially. Our strategy in listening to our sellers is to 1st Identify their problem. We need to know why they’re selling the house and why we’re even on the phone with them. Find out what’s keeping them up at night and perhaps what’s draining them emotionally. I refer to this as “sticking in the knife”. Let’s imagine you’ve got a sharp knife and you’re ever so gently poking your seller to see where their existing wounds are. We want to find the best place to attack and what’s better than an open wound to strike.        

      Our next step is to Agitate their problem. I refer to this as “turning the knife”. After you’ve found the best place to strike, you can then gently start turning the knife to get that blood gushing out. The more blood that gushes the more your seller will be talking about her problem and why she wants to get rid of her house. We hope talking about the pain in detail will program their brains to sell the house at a discount because of these problems. Our last step is to offer our Solution to their problem. This is where the clouds part, the heavens open up and the sun shines brightly as you come flying out to give their life back to them. We want to let the seller know that we’re willing to take on all of their problems and buy the house AS-IS. We can do that by getting a steep discount on the purchase. Why is it so important to identify the problem? Because the houses we deal with are “don’t wanters”. The seller just doesn’t want to pay any more money on taking care of this house. We need them to talk more about their problem so we can get them emotionally drained from sharing the information with us. Make sure to limit the amount of time you talk about your problems because this conversation is all about them. We can continue to ask questions about their particular problem, this is “turning the knife”. “Wow Ms. Smith, how long have you been paying taxes while your sister lives in the house for free, How long has the roof been leaking into the living room, who’s going to pay to have all the items moved out of the house, how long have you been making these high mortgage payments, When did you realize your family member was on drugs?” These are a few probing questions you can use. I like the “how long have you been dealing with ______ approach, it really gets the blood gushing. 

     After listening to the seller talk for as long as you can, our goal is to get them realizing their problem is so large, so deep, so emotionally draining it’s best to simply cut their losses and dump it onto you. Let them talk and verbalize it out loud so they get a chance to hear it themselves. All you really have to do is ask the right questions. The questions will be focused on their problems. The only way to get to their problem is by listening, our lost art form. After we’ve agitated their problem, we need to make 100% sure they understand we’re willing to take on that problem. Go down the list of the major problems and then let them know we can take it from here. The only thing you need is for them to let you step in. Give this equation a try and let me know how goes it…