In any real estate negotiation, buyers ask and sellers push back — because if you’re the buyer and you don’t ask, you don’t get.
Related: Pricing Your Home
While sellers want the highest price and buyers want the best deal, the two have to meet somewhere in the middle for the deal to close. Negotiating for a home is important since this is the largest asset most people own and there’s potentially a lot of cash at stake.
1. Why are they selling?
High Motivation — high negotiability
- Job transfer or loss
- Marriage or divorce
- Death (estate)
- Foreclosure
Medium Motivation — unpredictable
- Promotion / new job
- Expecting a child
- Discretionary
Low Motivation — lower negotiability
- Retirement
- Impulse
2. How Long on the Market?
New Listing — higher confidence / lower negotiability
4-8 weeks on market — waning confidence / higher negotiability
8+ weeks on market (assuming no price reductions so far) = ready to accept less
3. Vacant Properties
Usually indicates negotiability depending upon above factors