138: Lowball Offers: Smart Strategy or Straight-Up Self Sabotage?

We’ve all seen it… the offer comes in and you’re like, “Wait… are they serious?” 😅

In this episode, we’re breaking down lowball offers and when they’re actually a smart strategy… and when they completely blow up your chances of getting the house.

Because here’s the truth: not every low offer is wrong. But not every one is smart, either.

We’re talking about:
 💭 Why buyers make lowball offers in the first place
 📉 When it can work (and when it absolutely won’t)
 🚩 How sellers actually perceive these offers behind the scenes
🤝 The fine line between negotiating and offending
🧠 How to position an offer so it’s taken seriously — even if it’s below asking

And yes… we’ll also touch on when lowballing crosses the line into self-sabotage.

If you’ve ever wondered “how low is too low?” or had a deal get tense before it even started, this episode will give you the perspective (and strategy) to navigate it like a pro.

Because in this market, it’s not just about getting a deal.  it’s about getting it accepted.

Like what you heard? Make sure to follow and review the podcast, and shoot us a message with your thoughts at 

contractsandchaos@gmail.com

@YourHomeGirl_CLT 

@Real.Life.Brenna

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Okay, back for another Tuesday episode. Um, and today we are talking about lowball offers.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Yes. Every we've all been there. We've all had that moment, right? That your buyer's like, ah, let's just throw an offer out and see what happens.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Yep. So is it a strategy or is it gonna shoot you in the foot? And I think that there's there's different situations. There's different situations. Listen, I we talked about this before. I had one seller that I was like, no, you cannot accept this offer. What is wrong with you, right? But their circumstances had changed. They wanted to move the property, and somebody got a heck of a deal on a brand new construction house. So right?

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Or like I just had one. It wasn't even that like the house, in my opinion, is priced way too high looking at comps. So we came in and it's been on the market almost a year. We came in where the comps were. I didn't think it was. I mean, we were low from what they're listing, but the we didn't even get a um a counter offer. We got a thanks, no thanks. And and his agent pretty much told me he doesn't care. He's gonna wait until he gets the number he wants. He doesn't have to worry about money on this one.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

And I was like, See, those are the listings I don't want though.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Right? Well, and like I think this agent's part-time. He told me, I'm just listing it from my friend. I'm not like I'm only taking one percent, so I'm not really putting anything into it. I don't really care either.

unknown 1:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

All right. That's the end of the episode, right there. Like, that was just like we could just can we backdate this and April Fool's.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

I wish. I wish. That's crazy. Um but yeah, but and there's but there are some buyers out there who they just want a deal. They just they don't care what the market says, they don't like paying full price for anything. You know, they're they're the client who they play on their dinner menu for the week or around what's on sale at Publix, you know, because they don't pay full price.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Yeah. And my dad, they just he just wants to, he's on Facebook Marketplace buying junk, anyways, but he just wants five dollars less than what they have it listed for, so he feels like he won a better deal.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

Right? Yeah, and so and I have I'm working with two of those right now. One of them, the first house that they like started making moves on. There there's a difference between what they wanted and what the buy the sellers wanted. What the sellers wanted still makes sense in comps, but she just she's an unwilling to do it. Okay, then you're not gonna get your house. Like, is that worth losing what you really want? And the other one, I think, just always wants a deal. Like, every time he's like, Well, I'm only gonna, you know, I know it's listed at this, but I'm only paying this. And I'm like, but the comps say it's worth that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

So I had clients, um, and this was a few years ago. Now, this is back when things were selling, right? Like moving and grooving. They had a great interest rate, they were pre-approved for a great amount of money, right? And they could have gotten exactly what they wanted. And here's what happened: we showed houses, and he is like, Yeah, well, uh, I'm not gonna pay that. Like, I know how this works, right? Because he's in a sales industry. And he was like, Well, all you have to do is say this. And, you know, if they don't do it, great. Let them sit on it for a minute, they'll come back, they'll come back and it'll work out. And I was like, I don't think you understand. This property has six offers on it right now. Your $25,000 low offer is not even getting looked at. They're looking at there, it's not even getting past the first page, right? Because that's where the purchase price is on our contract. You're not making it to round two, buddy. Like it's just it's not happening. And so what happened was is he played that game three times. And then I said, I'm not writing those offers anymore, right? Like, it's not, it's not even worth my time to do that because we already know how this story goes. If there's multiple offers, this is where you put your best foot forward. And if your best foot is $35,000 lower than their their like listing price, and it's not overpriced, right? Like it's it's done well, then it's not it's not worth your heartache and my headache at that point. And then interest rates went up, right? So they went from being proof pre-approved for $425,000 to $350,000. And now they can't see anything that they want to see because they we've been looking at houses at $425,000 and now anything at $350, of course, doesn't meet that mark. Right. So they still have, as far as I know, haven't bought a house. They renewed their lease.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

And that's the thing, like we were just talking off-air about how I have a client who could pay cash for a home, but it would have a contingency. And they so I said that a contingency that wouldn't be accepted because of timelines. And so I said, you guys need to get a mortgage, and hi little one, and um they're balking at the costs of getting a mortgage, and I I have to say to them, like, this is the dream house, right? This is the forever, the retirement, the grandkids, everything. Is it worth losing it over a couple thousand dollars in fees? Why are we like, you know, or losing it because of a gap in what you're willing to pay? If this really is the dream, so are you willing to risk not having a house? And I think what's important is to remember sometimes this is like a psychological thing, especially I hate to say this, especially with older men. They just they want that. I remember my grandfather at the produce auction. Oh, I want 10 heads of lettuce for 25 cents a head. And the guy was like, the auction ended at 50 cents. He's like, I'll give you 25 for what's left. And he was like, the auction's at 50. That's so time.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

And it does, it's hard because like things are expensive, right? And I respect that. I know that, right? I just went and bought groceries too. I filled up my gas tank. I understand, right? Everybody's wanting a deal. But here's here's the thing: like, we're not getting those deals unless that property has been grossly overpriced or sitting, in my experience, right? Grossly overpriced or sitting for at least 120 days. Because even 60 days isn't cutting it anymore, right? It's not that big of a deal. Nope. So, like, and I think having a lot of these issues can be met head-on in the very beginning, not after you've shown them seven houses and spent your time and energy and gas money out touring for him to be like, yes, let's make an offer, or her to be like, yes, let's make an offer. Let's say it's listed at 350. I think that they would accept 300.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Right. And that's where I think that conversation of what's the market like right now, that you should be having that discussion at your buyer console. Because a lot of people, especially with the demographic you and I tend to work with a lot, haven't bought a house in 30 or 40 years. And all they're hearing is whatever the media is telling them. Oh, it's a buyer's market, you can get what you want. Oh, um, the you know, prices are skyrocketing, and is it really gonna be worth it? Are you gonna and so it's like, hold up, stop. So curb that right away. When you have that buyer consult, you need to explain here's what the market's like right now, here's what we're seeing, and the strategies I'm finding that are working. Obviously, we'll discuss property by property, but just so you're aware, like if this property is newer to the market, I would not expect to get it too much lower than what they're asking, unless there's data that can back it. And I think so. Let's talk about when it can be strategic. So we've covered one. Now, this the the length on market for how long it's been quote unquote sitting depends on your market. They're very specific to different areas.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

It also depends on what what those days were though, because like right now, if things were sitting on the market for let's say like um 120 days, right? They went on the market around Christmas. Right. That's the slowest time of year for us, right? Yeah. So they just they tried to get out ahead of it and that just didn't happen. And now the market is picking up.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

Right. Or maybe it's condition. Maybe every home in that neighborhood is a four-bedroom, three bath, and the rest of them have sold at $550, and this one's listed at, you know, $560, but the condition isn't the same. Yeah, it's a four-bedroom, three bath, but there's it has hoarders in it, or it needs all new flooring, or something significant that it's not worth that. Then that's where you, you know, but you have to back it up and and show that seller, that listing agent, hey, here's why. Or maybe it's maybe it is overpriced compared to the comps. I ran into that this week. The comps say, there's no way in hell we're paying what you're asking. The seller said, I don't give a shit. But that's a whole nother thing. So maybe, or maybe there's the seller is showing signs of motivation, which is this is where this one we were just talking about caught me off guard too, because he just lowered the price 30 days ago. So if it why are we not? Why are we not at least countering an offer? Um But that's where you have to have, oops, sorry, that conversation with your client to say, okay, if we're coming in low, I have to have the data to back it up because it has to, we have to show that we know what we're doing and we have a strategy, not that we're just throwing spaghetti at the wall to see if it will stick.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

Right. Yeah, and I've done that. Uh there's been a couple of times that I'm like, hey, this is where my clients are at because honestly, like I've done the research, I've pulled it out. I can't get this to make sense more than this amount, right? And it does no good to get you under contract at a price that the appraisal's not going to support, right? I do appraisal packets, so I have all that information put together. And when I can't, when I can't justify or make it make sense for anything over $325, and they're asking $356, like that's that's a big swing. So do we go under contract with $2,500 in due diligence for the appraisal to come in low and the seller to say no, I still want that amount, and now you're out $2,500. And I would we would have known that ahead of time because I can see where the comps are at. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 10:43

I actually were writing an offer later today. We're putting in an appraisal contingency.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

Oh, nice. I haven't seen one of those.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Right? I haven't either. And the seller's agent suggested it because he knows where his client's at. And he was like, Well, maybe, and I I asked, I said, Do you think he'll accept one? Like, like, I don't want to waste your time or mine. And he was like, You don't know if you don't try. He's like, I haven't had those conversations again. I was just like, but um, yeah, maybe that's what you need to do. And that's what I told my client. I said, I'm not letting you come up on this without that in place. Yeah. Because she is a single mom. We've been down this road, she lost a property before, and she got lucky. The the sellers realized and they gave her a money back, but it was still, you know, she'd already paid for an appraisal, she'd paid for inspections, all the things. And I was like, We're not risking your finances over a dude if he's not gonna sell at the appraised value for you. Yeah, that makes no sense.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

The idea is to not just like, like you said, spaghetti at the wall and just like, well, let's just shoot our shot and see what happens. Now, I am a pretty aggressive negotiator on the buyer side, right? I'm a firm believer that the worst thing they can say is no. But in within reason, right? Like, I am not the agent that's gonna write you an offer that's $100,000 low on a property and just be like, well, the the worst they can say is no, maybe they'll do it. I will say the worst thing that they can say is no when we are like trying to get some seller concessions and a home warranty and you want the washer and dryer, right? Like we can work that in, and the worst they can say is no, that they want to keep that washer and dryer, or maybe they don't want to do the home warranty. But if you're asking for gosh, 10%, that was the that was the most ridiculous one I've had recently. 10% off the list price because you don't feel like the neighborhood is going to appreciate. I was like, Lord help me.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

And then why are we even buying it? Right.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

It's just it's it's so funny. Right now I've got I've got super young clients that they've just heard over and over and over this last like year that they're gonna be upside down in this house, right? Like if they buy a house, they will be upside down. And I feel like it's such a a generational drama thing, right? Because there were families that were upside down. Oh, absolutely. And like there's so many things that go into that, and this is not that, this is not that time, right? So having that conversation, educating those clients on what you're seeing and how this is working. And also, if your clients are like, hmm, we may have a job relocation in two years, or hey, we don't really know if we're gonna stay in North Carolina, we might have kids and move back to New Hampshire. Do your clients the the favor, the service to say, listen, if you don't think you will be here for at least two years in this house, maybe rent. Yeah, you know, because I know personally lower price point, right, and you too, because we both have come into instances recently that these sellers have purchased too soon to be selling. They're going to be upside down because of their own choices, not because of the market. Oh, right, because they're packing up and going somewhere else because of life, because of work, because of whatever it is, but now they they do have to bring cash to closing. And that's that's really hard.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

Or my clients decided to turn their house into a rental.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

And sometimes that's what you have to do.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Yeah, because while they will still lose the same amount of money over time with the rental fees for the property management company, they it was easier to eat five or six hundred dollars a month than it was to show up with $25,000 at closing.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

Yep. Isn't that crazy? So but yeah, so lowball offers can be strategic if you're if the property's been sitting, if the condition is not on track with the comparables in the area, that it's been sitting for so long that sellers are making price decreases, or maybe there's a note in the MLS that says seller is offering $7,500 for paint. You know, something when there's there's there's not, they're not red flags, right? There's notes, there's hints in there that maybe the seller is willing to do something, they're ready to make this move. Right. And then when it's self-sabotage is when, like if it's a brand new house, I'm I'm not asking for $30,000 off the list price or $25,000 or $10,000. I will ask for some closing costs, right? But there's just there's situations that that doesn't work. Like you just said, a new house in Clover, it's a great neighborhood, it's the first weekend on the market. We're not getting a 60 or 90-day close on this, we're not getting a 45-day due diligence period on this. We're not getting because it's an explain it say, as a listing agent, I would laugh and be like, no way can I let you do this in, you know, a good frame of mind because it's not setting you up for the best success that I know that we can get.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Right. And don't listen to your financial planner. They're not realtors, they're not in the market, they don't know what houses are worth. Um, but I think another like another self-sabotage is like um if the buyer's emotionally attached to the house, then why are why are you ruining the dream? Right. Why are you you this is everything you've pictured? And like, because I somewhat walk my clients now, especially my buyers, through a mini 10-year letter. Tell me what your life looks like in two years if after this house. Does the daily lifestyle at this house fit that picture that you had for what you want your life to look like? Yep. Okay. Then if this truly is the one, is it are you sabotaging the dream over a couple thousand dollars? When it when all of the data says that this is priced correctly.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

Yep. Yep. And it's a reality check that you have to give to them, right? So the best thing is they're like, well, we we know that there's another offer on the table, right? And they're like, we still want to be at this price. Okay, well, that's fine because if this is your highest and best, this is what you would pay for this house, that's great. But what I don't want is for you to see that this house closes in three or four weeks for $5,000 more than what you offered. And you're like, I would have paid that, right? You need to be okay with wherever this house sells. If it sells for $1,000 more or whatever it is, you need to be so confident in your number that you stuck out there that you're not gonna have any regrets over this because once it's gone, it's it's gone. And we can't always be like waiting days either to figure this out because some houses have been on the market for six weeks, and then again, it's springtime, people are out and circulating again, and now they have multiple offers, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:50

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

So you have to go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

Sorry, go ahead. Um, you have like an aggressive offer can do two things. Like, if you're aggressively low, it can either open the door for a conversation or it can shut it. And like that's what we experienced this week, where even though the comps backed it up, I didn't know the psychology behind the seller, but he said thanks, no thanks. We didn't even get a counter. Are you willing to risk that? Are you willing for them to say, no, we're not, we don't even want to talk to you anymore?

SPEAKER_02 18:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Because that's that's a hard conversation.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

That's a hard thing to pedal back from, right? So if you are that guy, and I keep saying guy, but like if you are that buyer that like came in $25,000 low and the seller said, Thank you, we respectfully decline your offer, right? The end. I had an agent like angry at me a few weeks ago that we didn't counter. I'm like, my seller felt like we were too far apart to make it worth countering, right? So if you counter, if if you submit a really low offer and they say no, and then you you come back up magically like $18,000, now you just look like a jerk.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Well, and you look desperate.

SPEAKER_02 19:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

And they're gonna take advantage of that. And that's what I'm trying to guide my client through right now, is like, because she's like, okay, then we'll just come in with full price appraisal guarantee. I said, no, no, whoa. Whoa. No, because it's yes, if we have an appraisal contingency, but otherwise, absolutely not, because he's he's gonna walk all over you.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

And you don't want to be upside down in a house because you paid too much for it. That's the really the only way that you can be upside down in a house right now. If if you truly paid too much for that house. Yeah. But a good thing and a good thing that, and I've actually said this several times before, is it more important to get a dealer is a or the house, right? Like, and that goes back to if you find out that they accept another offer and it closes and you can see that it closed for $5,000 more, will it be worth it?

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Right.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

Right? Because then and it's not always about the numbers, and this is where you start as a as a buyer's agent too, to be like, I understand that $325 sounds better in your head than $335. But let me explain to you how $5,000 in seller concessions or $7,500 in seller concessions can actually make so much more difference to you, and psychologically, it's easier for the seller to say yes because the list price matches what they have.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

Right. Yep, exactly. Like we can still get you the payment that you want, we just play the numbers, we structure the numbers differently. So um, so yeah, and I love that one. And I think I have to have that conversation this week of actually today, what's more important saving fees on a mortgage right now or getting the house? You know, because like if we wait for you to get this other pre-approval that's going to take days, you might lose the dream. Are you willing to risk it over what is probably a couple thousand dollars? So the other thing is pull the data, show the list to sale ratios, like show your clients like this is what the market is doing. It's not just my opinion, this is what is happening. So, and that's why what you want to do is unrealistic in this situation or not going to be successful.

SPEAKER_02 21:16

Before you do the quick CMA, at least on RMLS, you can pull comps within like you dial in whatever you're looking for, the three-bedroom, two-bath, 1500 square feet, 1600 square feet, and you can pull them for like the last whatever 60 days, 90 days, however active your market is. And it'll show you on that sheet like the list to sale price, the percentage. So if you're trying to get like 5% off the list price, right? And you can see that historically these houses around there have been selling at 98 and 99% of their list price, why would if the listing agent has done their research too, why would they advise their client to take that offer?

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Yeah. Yeah. Unless they're in a situation you're unaware of, but the likelihood of that is not. High as you think it is. Um, and and I think so, talking about not getting the counter offers, you have to sh you can't sugarcoat it. You have to be honest and say, Hey, just know that this is this may not even get a conversation started. And if that's the case, it's gonna be hard to come back from that.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

That agent that was like so upset about like not getting a counter, like, will at least start the conversation. My seller doesn't feel like there is a there is a conversation to be had. You know what I mean? Like, and at that point, it is it's an emotional thing, right? So you have to, as an agent, you have to play the emotional support on either side, right? Just because they submitted an offer doesn't mean you need to take offense to it. I always love to start a conversation, but in this instance, even I was like, dang.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

Right.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

I mean, they're very they're obviously not very serious, right? That's what it comes across as. Because what how do you even come up with that number? But instead of going in super low, I think that you can, and this is a conversation I had with clients yesterday. We wrote an offer. I said, there's people get so stuck on this purchase price number. That's why we're talking about concessions, because there is so much more that goes into an offer than just the purchase price, right? Like this particular house, the sellers have already had to move because they they needed to move for work. I knew that because I'd reached out to the agent. So really, timeline is important to them because they don't need to be carrying two mortgages at this point. And say a concession is easier for them right now than managing repairs with them being out of state or those kinds of things. A home warranty that makes your buyer feel a little bit better about maybe the water heater's old or things like that. You can you can make it work so the offer gets accepted and your clients are covered with the terms that really work for them long long term. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 24:02

Right. Because and maybe if the number is low, then we're not like you said, we're not also asking for closing costs. Like the clean if it's low, the cleaner the better.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

Because it that all eats into a seller's bottom line. And that's what I always try to explain to my clients too, is like, you know, when we sell your house, this is this was your number. They have a number, and all of these things through this offer eat away at that number. So you have to keep that in mind. Yep. Um, I think it's also important to like you have to remember that you're their guide. You don't control, you're not the one making the decisions. You want to protect the relationship with your clients, you know, while still being honest about things, but like make sure you're documenting that guidance. That is one of the things I do is like I might text them like disclosures and stuff, but I still I always email it. And um everything is sorted, you know, everything is organized in my email. But especially, and this is a little different, once we're under contract, our system through our firm, each transaction has its own email address. Yep. So every email I send, I copy that transaction email on. So, like, I'm just using this as an example, it's not about the low offer. But if it's um, we've had this inspection, there's structural issues, but you're you you still want to buy this without an engineer coming in or something, I send an email that says, please confirm. So do the same thing. Make sure you're documenting that guidance of here's not just um here's, you know, I've looked at the comps and this is what the number I think. You email them the properties, or like I do a lot of mine, literally, a notepad and a pen. And so if I don't have time to like put it in a pretty spreadsheet or send them all the little listings, I at least like that notepad and pen is very organized. Like I have a structure I follow, like a spreadsheet, and I send them a picture of that to be like, hey, I'm on the run right now, but here's the comps, here's the numbers, so you guys can start going over this. Document it so that they no one can say, Well, you know, we didn't think that they were, you know, they gave us guidance or anything. CYA all the time, C Y A. Like you have you have to for so many reasons.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

So many, and it's it's unfortunate, but it it is the truth. So, and I do love that our we can just like CC or even and I'll save, like you said, it was after we go under contract, but I create folders in, and this is a little off off topic, but I create folders in Gmail for all of my emails going to those clients, right? And so even once when we go under contract, I go in and I just forward all of the emails in that folder to the compliance email that way. That way they're there.

SPEAKER_00 26:45

But yeah, I think that's or even like my handwritten notes, then go in a folder in my file cabinet, and then once we go under contract, they get scanned in and sent to that email. So everything is there. They can't say I didn't have that information.

SPEAKER_02 27:01

Yep. And say it is ultimately it is their decision. So if they're like, no, we hardcore want to be at 325, not 335 with concessions, then that's that's your job to write the offer. If they they essentially they figure it out as met if it takes it takes a couple times for the sellers to say no, for them to be like, oh, maybe you were right, maybe there's a different way to do this. But I think as agents we can do better because there's oftentimes mistakes that I've seen. And I mean, when I first started, I did, right? Like my clients want to write an offer. I'm gonna write you an offer, right? I'm ready. I will write whatever you want to put on there. And I think over the years I've just been able to be like, I've done this enough times. I've sold enough houses to have an idea of what I think will work best for you and work for the seller, right? So the yeah, like like I'll write it. Let's try it without having a conversation of why they want that number or what their what their end goal is, right? It's just like when we're searching for houses. Why do you need that fourth bedroom? Oh, I work from home, I need it as an office. Okay, so a landing on the stairs is gonna work okay for you to put a desk and have that designated space for you to work instead of that fourth bedroom. Same thing with an offer. Why do you want to be $10,000 less? Well, I'd really like my my payment to be lower. Okay, great. Let's ask for a $5,000 concession and you can use that to buy down your interest rate. That's gonna affect your that's gonna affect your monthly payment for years. Not just this, because $5,000 on a mortgage over 30 years doesn't really change your monthly note that much. I'm I'm real sorry to say it, but it's but it's true. So having those conversations and like why is this important can help you structure that offer to work for your buyers, but actually be stronger than just lowering the purchase price, you know? Um, you also have to be confident enough to say something.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

Hey, I I think this is one of the biggest ones, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:00

I think that $25,000 is too low. I I do. And here's why. I think you're shooting yourself in the foot before we even get started. If you are too aggressive to go under contract with, it's only going to make our negotiation process for inspections or repairs down the road harder because they feel like they were taken advantage of in the beginning.

unknown 29:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

You know? Yep. Yeah. And then and along with that comes over-promising your negotiation outcomes. Like you can't say, well, I can negotiate through that. There's no guarantee because you don't know what the other side is or isn't willing to do. And you may be the best negotiator, but that doesn't mean you can control it. So you need to, you don't want to overpromise on that. Um, you also need to make sure like you're preparing your clients for seller reactions, aggressive seller reactions. Like where they may say, even if you do bring a full price offer, you may have insulted them to the point where they say, no, we just don't want to work with you, with you. It has nothing to do with the numbers anymore. We don't want to work with you as a human being. So you have to prepare them for that to be like, are you ready? Like, are you willing to have them say that? Like, if we come in with this, are you okay if they say thanks, but no thanks, and please never contact us again.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

So I think another big one is like people get emotionally involved with the number. You know, like agents, especially if you're commission hungry, if it's been a while, you get emotionally attached. Um and just because you you just want it to go under contract, and you can't do that. You have to do what's best for your client. Um, whether that's the lower offer or coaching them into an appropriate offer, right? You have to do what's best for them because you're not just writing offers for people, like you have to be managing their expectations and protecting their outcomes. I think that that's to the best of your ability.

SPEAKER_02 31:09

That's like the best one-liner. I need that to be a clip after this episode, like the whole managing the expectations, but protecting the outcomes because that's that's what we're paid to do, right?

SPEAKER_00 31:20

Just like every outcome, but we have to try.

SPEAKER_02 31:25

Yeah, absolutely. So um, we have a few steps that I think are helpful when you're going in to either work with a difficult buyer for writing an offer or even just presenting the best offer you can for your client, right? So we and I mentioned this a few minutes ago, the um property that we had gone to look at, I knew that the seller had already vacated the property, right? They already had to move for work. And I knew that because I don't call every agent before I go on a showing, right? Because God, sometimes that just takes too long. I showed nine hours.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

You would have been you would have spent a whole day making phone calls last week because you had like 23 showings. Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

Sometimes it just doesn't make sense. But when we start narrowing down and they keep talking about these two or these three houses, I will reach out to that agent and say, hey, just finished up the showing. My clients are still talking about it. Is there anything I should know or be aware of as far as your seller, what's important to them in an offer or their timeline if we were to move forward with this property? Right? I'm not telling them we're writing an offer. What is it that I need to know? Have they already moved out? Do they need an extended timeline? Do they need are they emotionally attached to the house? They raise their babies here, like it can be different. It can be different for everyone. One that I just got under contract last week, the sellers, this was the house that they built for their retirement. And they wanted somebody to enjoy it the way that they wanted it to be enjoyed. And it's so funny because the clients that were looking at it are retiring to this area. Oh, so they were excited about my buyers before we ever brought an offer, right? Because, and you just make that, you make that connection. Nothing, nothing makes me matter than a direct DocuSign envelope link from an agent that I have not spoken to that is also low, that is also a mess, that is also missing my firm information, my like license number on the offer, like all of that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 33:31

I can't stand it even if they do that once for under contract. Do not send me an email unless it's like, hey, like I you've told me, hey, I'm on vacation, I'm gonna do this just to make sure it gets there before the deadline. Okay, cool. You've told me, I get it. The house I was just under contract on, everything was coming from DocuSign with and the one time hysterical, she forgot to change the message for me. And so I saw what she wrote to her client. Where she was bad mouthing me.

SPEAKER_02 34:03

That's terrible.

SPEAKER_00 34:04

And I was just like, because we wanted a clean copy of the contract because she kept doing all the changes with initials, all and like I was like, no, yeah, sometimes it just gets messy.

SPEAKER_02 34:14

Oh god, I hate that. Like, do not keep striking through this stuff.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

Right. And so she said, My firm prefers it this way, but the agent sent it like this. I can get it the way we want if you want me to. Um, well, my broker in charge is an attorney. Yes. And I asked him before I did this, and he said, You're wrong. Thanks though. But yeah, don't do that. Uh anyway, back to the point of the city.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 34:39

When you're having the conversations with your clients, maybe present two or three offer um strategies, like the conservative one, the competitive one, and an aggressive one. Like, and say, here's what we could do based on the situation, based on the comps, and and present all like a couple options that that make sense.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

What toppings do you want on your pizza, right? This is your pizza. What do you want? Do you want the washer and dryer and a home warranty, or do you want $5,000 in concessions? Or do you really just want to see that it closed at $325 and not $335?

SPEAKER_00 35:14

Right. Do you want to mortgage that washer and dryer for 30 years? Or do you want to get $5,000 in seller concessions to lower your rate? And you can go get a washer and dryer on a lows card at 0% interest. Which one makes more sense?

SPEAKER_02 35:30

But that that just and then again, it puts the ball back in their court and it feels like, and because they do have the power, right? They are the decision makers, but they don't know the decisions, the options that they have in that moment. All they know, because that's all they've seen, is purchase price, purchase price, purchase price. So do your do your clients a a favor and like lay out the options for them.

SPEAKER_00 35:55

Right.

SPEAKER_02 35:56

Um, and then the other thing to do is to prep your buyer for what might be coming. We can submit this lower offer, but here's here's what might happen. We might not get an offer, or we might not get a counter. We might not even get a response. We might get a counter. And it might be as aggressive as your offer was, right? If you come down $35,000, they might counter right back at their original list price because I've seen that happen too. And we have on here emotional seller reaction because sellers do have emotional reactions, but I usually am the buffer between those things or an emotional agent response. Sometimes I get worse agent responses than I do than I do sellers. But I don't think it depends. If your client is one of the clients that needs to have that constructive criticism as far as this offer would never be accepted in a million years, right? Maybe share that. But if the seller is just being kind of icky or the agent is being a little icky, your buyer doesn't need to know that because if we go under contract, that's only gonna sour the relationship for the rest of the duration, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00 37:09

No, I agree. I agree because yeah, you don't want like you want them to know, but also be careful of how much you give them because you don't want to mess it up. So I think my final thought for this is like a low-ball offer, and you let me know if you agree with this, isn't just a number, it's a message. And I think we we've kind of covered that of like you're conveying what you think about the property, and you're conveying a lot of things that you may not realize are being sent with those numbers. So what do you want the message to those sellers to say? That that's what your offer really is, right?

SPEAKER_02 37:48

That you're difficult to work with, unrealistic, and not serious, or that you're open to discussion, thoughtful, and and this isn't saying offer over asking price, because I have had agents be like, I appreciate how considerate this this offer is, right? Like we we did some weird things in there. It's not just about the purchase price. Do you so do you want to set the tone that you are easy to work with, can have a conversation, or that you're just coming off immediately aggressive and I mean unrealistic, I think is the best the best way to put that if we're talking about specifically low ball aggressive offers, it's just unrealistic. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 38:33

And agents also remember the conversation you have with that agent also sends that message. So if you get a no and you pick up that phone and you call that agent all hot and heavy, well, why why didn't you even give us a counter? That tells them everything they need. I had I had it this week. We didn't get a counter. So I picked up the phone and I called and I was like, hey, can we talk about this? Like, are we gonna counter? Like, because I'd asked in a text and I was like, that could I just said, are we gonna get a counter? And he was like, no. And I was like, okay, let me call him and talk to him. And I had a very kind conversation about like, what's going on? What am I missing here? Like, am I missing something that you're not that you're seeing and I don't for some reason? You know, I put the blame on me and was very nice. And by the end of it, came to realize he even thinks the seller's an idiot. So, you know, but if you come in, well, why aren't you even gonna counter? Well, now we're never going to because my clients don't want to deal with that. Like we just are very aware of how you're already behaving, so we don't want to deal with it. So just know that not only the offer, but also your communication sends the message.

SPEAKER_02 39:46

Absolutely. And I think that that's I think that's good. I hope you guys liked it. If you liked it, share it with a friend. Rate the podcast, you guys. That's how this is this is how we get this this out to more people. We appreciate everybody that listens every week, but share with a friend. Um, rate us on where wherever you listen to us, and we will see you next week.

SPEAKER_00 40:05

Yes, we'll see you next week.