Real estate agents wear a lot of different hats and have to master a wide range of skills in order to be successful. From marketing to sales to data analysis to working with people—you have to be competent in a lot of diverse areas. One of the most important real estate skills that you have to master is negotiation.
Like anything else, your real estate negotiation skills have to be consistently practiced, improved, and built on. It’s involved in everyth part of the real estate process, from convincing clients to work with you and agreeing on a rate, to actually getting the best deal possible for that client once they choose to work with you.
Let’s take a look at the top reasons why you have to develop and sharpen your real estate negotiation skills.
Generate More Business
Ultimately, negotiation is about understanding the psychological underpinnings of the other party and using that understanding to your advantage. When it comes to converting new business and discussing contract terms, you can use negotiation skills to accurately read the situation and respond effectively.
Because buying or selling a home is not just a financial or business decision, it’s an emotional one, too. And the potential client across the table from you is desperate to have the process go smoothly and have you handle something very complex that they probably aren’t super familiar with. They need you. Having strong real estate negotiation skills will allow you to see that and conduct the conversation from a place of advantage.
Maximize Value for Your Clients
Being a master of real estate skills like negotiation doesn’t only benefit you; it also benefits your client. By building up your toolbox of negotiating tactics you can maximize the value of a deal, whether that means getting the highest price possible for your sellers or focusing on the non-monetary aspects of the transaction.
For example, if your seller wants to reach a particular sale price, but is also looking to close on their property within a certain period, a skilled negotiator will work with their seller to determine which aspect is most important to them. You can then bring that information to the table when presenting a counteroffer to prospective buyers.
When it comes to buyers, an agent with effective real estate negotiation skills will look at the value their buyer client offers, like such as utilizing cash assets or a small mortgage amount for their purchase, in addition to the sale price they’re willing to pay.
By expanding and developing your negotiating skills, you will be in a better position to identify value wherever it may be, resulting in a superior outcome for your clients.
Real Estate Negotiation Skills Differentiate You
There are millions of agents throughout the United States. Not to mention the rise of online platforms that make it much easier for people to try and buy and sell homes on their own. The only way to be successful in this often crowded and changing landscape is to provide so much value to your clients that they have no choice but to decide to work with you. By actively developing all your real estate skills, and negotiation in particular, you can give yourself an edge over the competition, and you can emphasize the continued importance of the human element to real estate transactions.
An online platform can’t provide the personal connection, understand the psychological motivations behind both parties of a sale, or be creative in how they structure an offer. To be successful against do-it-yourself real estate websites AND other agents, you have to be the master of the human element. And a lot of that is the ability to successfully negotiate.
Improving your real estate negotiation ability is an invaluable way to invest in yourself and your business. If you’re interest in developing those skills and setting yourself apart from the competition, check out our free skill assessment. It will show you where you currently stand and provide strategies to improve.