Negotiation is an essential part of any real estate exchange and can literally make or break a potential buy or sale. Negotiating when buying or selling a house can be challenging as both the buyer and seller are emotionally involved in the negotiations. Buyers can easily offend sellers by making an offer way below the asking price or by inserting conditions in the contract that the sellers might never agree to. On the other hand sellers can easily offend buyers by an unwillingness to negotiate on price or by stipulating perhaps a long settlement period. If you are buying or selling a house it’s vital to maintain control over your emotions so that you don’t let an opportunity slip by that may have been easily resolved.

How to Negotiate When Buying or Selling a House: The centre of the negotiations is the real estate agent. The real estate agent knows the Vendor’s (Seller’s) situation as well as the buyers’ situation which gives them the ultimate edge as well as control over the direction of the negotiations. That’s why it’s vital that you work with a reliable and professional real estate agent particularly if you’re selling your house. The real estate agent can influence the negotiations by providing the right information.

Negotiating over the buy or sale of a property can be fun, exciting and enjoyable or it can be daunting, intimidating and a completely negative experience. The basis of all negotiating is the people involved and their motives within the negotiations. When you’re buying a house is a excellent thought to question the agent why the owner is selling their house.

If you can find out the Vendor’s motive for selling their house you might be able to: – Pay considerably less for the house – Help the Vendor solve a problem (if one exists) – Use the Vendor’s situation to your advantage (eg. They’re moving interstate and need to sell asap) – Secure Vendor finance for a part of the buy price (this could result in not having to outlay any money from your own pocket) – Gain access to the property prior to settlement (This is useful if you’d like to start organising quotes for renovating the house)

Here are some tips to help your negotiations go smoothly when you’re buying or selling a house:

Buying or Selling a House – Tip # 1: Be flexible Being stubborn in negotiations can lead to a quick end to the negotiation and the buyer or seller will walk away from any potential deal

Buying or Selling a House – Tip # 2: Be open-minded A buyer or seller may have a particular request or condition in the contract. Be open to considering these conditions as it’s sometimes the small things that can make for a successful buy or sale. Even things such as price can be irrelevant if there are any out of the ordinary requests or conditions.

Buying or Selling a House – Tip # 3: Try not to reveal your ‘bottom line’ to early Always keep something up your sleeve to use later on. For example, you might say your bottom price is $295,000 when it fact you would accept $285,000 for the house. As a buyer you might say your top-price is $285,000 when in fact you’re willing to spend $295,000.

Buying or Selling a House – Tip # 4: Keep positive If you’re sincerely interested in buying or selling, keep your mind focused on a successful outcome, the outcome that you desire. Saying ‘We’ll never get it for that price’ might become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Take the attitude that if it’s meant to happen, it will!

Buying or Selling a House – Tip # 5: Use urgency to your advantage If the buyer or seller is in a position where they have to buy or sell quickly, use this as a tool in when you’re negotiating. Urgency has a amusing way of making flexibility when none existed before.

Buying or Selling a House – Tip # 6: Aim for a win/win situation No matter what the other party’s situation, always aim for a win/win. Even with things such as urgency, be reasonable with your requests as it might be you someday that is in their position. Employing a win/win attitude simply makes for excellent business. You’ll feel excellent if you’ve helped someone while you’ve helped yourself at the same time.

Buying or Selling a House – Tip # 7: Use smart questioning ‘If we were to agree to that price would you be pleased to make the settlement 60 days instead of 30 days?’ Use the right questions to make a pleased medium for both parties.

Buying or Selling a House – Tip # 8: Reckon creatively If one proposal doesn’t work, try to reckon of ways around the problem where both parties achieve their primary motive. ‘No’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘no’. It simply means you might have to be a bit more creative in your price or offer or with any conditions in the contract. Question yourself ‘How else can I make this work?’

Matt Adams is Author of the book: “9 Secrets to Sell Your House For More in Any Market”. In his book Matt shows homeowners how to quickly and easily sell their house for the highest price in the shortest possible timeframe, it’s so simple, anyone can do it.

If you’d like to – Sell your house for more money (regardless of market conditions) – Sell your house quick (even when the media says houses aren’t selling) – Save thousands of dollars on advertising (how about free?) – Learn the most effective house selling methods (my small-known secrets) – And be in a position of power when selling your house (I’ll show you how)

Then visit http://www.SellingHouse.com.au