Negotiating the Highest Price for Your Home

Buyers are far more discriminating, and a large percentage of the homes listed for sale don’t sell the first time. It’s more critical than ever to learn what you need to know to avoid costly seller mistakes in order to sell your home fast and for the most amount of money.

The single biggest issue on most home sellers' minds when selling their homes is how to achieve the highest sale price. And yet most homeowners feel disadvantaged and ill-equipped to achieve this goal. Pricing a home is an imperfect science to begin with. Market factors can cause large swings affecting pricing. Also the skill of the person responsible for negotiating can also determine what your home will sell for.

However, negotiating effectively doesn't have to be as difficult or intimidating as you might expect. Like anything else, if you have a proven system to follow - and know the signals and the language - you can successfully turn the tables to be in your favor.

4 Common Negotiating Mistakes Most Home Sellers Make

Following are 4 common mistakes most home sellers make at the negotiating table:

1. Saying too much during an offer

The first and second rules of effective negotiating are to a) know what you are legally required to divulge, and b) don't say anything more than this in front of someone who is not completely representing your interests. It's very important that a seller think through every point he or she is going to make . . .before it is spoken. What you say can and will be used to your buyer's advantage, so don't say anything more than you have to. For example, if you are reviewing an offer in front of both your agent and the buyer's agent, and you mention what your "bottom line" price is, you better count on the fact that the buyer's agent will pass this information on to your buyer, and you'll probably lose the opportunity of getting a higher price than this. Remember that you don't have to say anything in front of the buyer's agent. They are representing the buyer's needs, not yours. It is quite acceptable to ask them to leave before you discuss details of the offer with your agent.