Maybe you consider yourself to be an ace negotiator. Still, your negotiation tactics as a seller depend heavily on the national and local real estate market. You’re responsible for making decisive financial decisions to sell your property quickly. And your sharp negotiation skills will play a major role in your ability to close the deal.

During the property sale, both parties desire the best deal possible. So you need to prepare to negotiate all things: repairs, closing costs, and of course, the purchase price with your prospective buyers. 

Just remember that perfect offers are rare; small compromises on your behalf or that of your buyer are inevitable. 

Use these tips to strengthen your negotiation tactics:

1. Study local and national market dynamics

As mentioned before, your ability to negotiate and make an offer relies heavily on the local real estate market. 

Spend time researching the selling price of comps and the number of ‘for-sale’ signs in your area. Consult your real estate agent as they’ve done in-depth research on the local market dynamics. 

To keep tabs on the national real estate market, you can check the Pending Home Sales and Existing-Home Sales reports by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). By studying national and local market dynamics, you can determine how much leverage you’ll have during the negotiations. 

2. Don’t let emotions get the best of you

Property sale negotiations can get stressful! It’s important to remain poised while communicating with potential homebuyers. Once you receive an offer, don’t let your emotions get the better of you and in turn, make decisions hastily. 

Take a deep breath. Consider all aspects of the offer, talking with your agent and others who can offer their objective viewpoint. If you respond right away, you’re letting the buyer believe that you’re very eager to close the sale—a real no-no, as it ultimately gives them an upper hand in negotiations. 

Besides, if you wait it out, you might get better offers on your house. In other words, keep your options open and don’t let your excitement stand in the way of making the maximum profit on your home sale. 

3. Always negotiate in person

In our digital age where many deals happen online, it’s important to negotiate in person (if possible). This enables you to read the buyer’s body language rather than just hear their spoken words. 

Nonverbal cues are critical. It’s not as easy to accurately read a person’s tone of voice or understand someone’s intentions over texts, emails, or calls. Even worse, a seemingly neutral, benign, or even amusing comment may offend someone when taken out of context in an online real estate negotiation. 

Inviting buyers to discuss the property and the deal face-to-face will reduce the likelihood of such a faux pas (phew!) This is your window to negotiate in person with them. 

4. Offer inclusions strategically

This is a great negotiation tactic for sellers aiming to get closer to their home value. Let’s say you’re including the dishwasher in your deal. 

Now, if the buyer has asked that you cover a repair that’s close to the price of your dishwasher, you may contend that since you’ve included the appliance, its value should cancel out the cost of the repair. This way, you won’t have to expend effort on finding a professional to make the repair—and time saved is money saved.

Some of the above might have caught you off-guard; others may be tips you’ve been planning to employ. In either case, you can use these strategies in your next real estate negotiation to close the deal at (or above) your list price.