Gettinfg a price reduction

Asking for price reductions can make or break a top real estate agent's business. Not only will price reductions quicken the sale while minimizing overhead in a real estate agent's business, but it will also prove to everyone that your marketing systems work. Remember, price is 90% of any marketing plan and the faster you achieve market value, the faster everyone's needs are met.

We've all experienced the seller who, no matter how much information is given them including pre-listing sales packages with pricing technologies and the right scientific research showing the exact value of their home, still wants more! What are we to do?

All I can do at this juncture is to assume that the right questions were asked prior to and during the listing presentation, and they received information on how to price their property correctly. At the listing presentation, this information was reviewed and the scientific information was discussed. If after all of this has been done and the price is still too high, your options are to not take the listing or to receive a pre-agreed reduction based upon the success of marketing.

All of this leaves me to believe, that if everything that should be done has been done and you still have an overpriced listing, you (1) knew it was overpriced and took it anyway or (2) made a mistake based upon the fact that you liked the property more than anyone else did. There is a possible third problem - maybe the seller was a better salesperson than you and sold you on the high price.

This leads us to one conclusion - if you have been a victim of any of the previously mentioned three problems, you're now going to have to consistently ask for price reductions.

Asking for price reductions may be one of the most embarrassing aspects of this business. How do you ask for price reductions when you told the seller that you could market the home at the agreed upon price? Sometimes, their response might be furious, "Well anyone could sell this house at that price!" You might also hear, "The other agent said that they could get more," "I can't buy my new home if I get that price," or "Do you expect me to lose money?" All these questions ignore the main subject - market value is market value. None of the above questions has anything to do with market value.

The following lead-ins can be used to ask for a price reduction. It is very important that you use new topics as often as possible, so you won't sound monotonous! Remember, an agent who asks for price reductions soon after the listing presentation will have a weary seller; mix your price reductions in with new and exciting marketing concepts. Concepts such as a page on your website from your lender showing five ways which the home can be financed, adding a special home of the day button to your site, or sending your evaluation surveys to all the agents who have seen the home. I have a million of them. Remember, the seller likes the real estate agent who is ingenious in their marketing methods, and the seller will then listen more intently to the following reasons for a price reduction.

Here are the lead-ins that you can use to ask for a price reduction. I have done in subject form because scripts would be too difficult knowing every situation is different. However, here are the subjects of price reduction scripts that will get you started:

1. There's been a new sale in the neighborhood that affects your value.


2. Here are some of the responses that we've received from other agents.


3. Here are the responses that I received from buyers I have shown.


4. Here are responses that I have heard from buyers shown by other agents.


5. Here are the responses from the agents in my office.


6. Here are the attitudes of the real estate agents who attended the broker open house.


7. Here were the attitudes of the buyers who walked through your home on the open house.


8. Here are the responses that we have received from the ad that we've placed in...


9. If this were my home, here are some suggestions that I would do to make it more appealing to buyers. By the way, rather than just making these improvements, why don't we drop the price to compensate for some improvements the buyer may want to make?


10. Why don't we increase the selling office commission? If I sell it, I will stick to the original terms of the listing agreement.


11. May we add a selling office bonus?


12. I know that this offer was low and the buyer did not accept our counter offer; however, may I lower the home to the amount that we mentioned in the counter offer to attract more interested buyers?


13. May we ask for some concessions on the home that you're buying and then supply those same concessions to any potential buyers on their home?


15. May we offer preferential owner financing and make the property more affordable to any potential buyers?


16. We have an open house/new ad/new web blast going out and I would certainly love to be able to market this home at a new and improved price.


17. I'm going to be taking the property out of the MLS and resubmitting it as a new listing, thereby acquiring a new look and new enthusiasm among the cooperating real estate agents here in town. I'd like to do that at a lower price.


18. Is there anything that we could throw in that would "sweeten the pot" - appliances, vehicles, maybe even a free vacation at a timeshare?


19. Many times we have found that emotions play a big role in the sale of a home. Can we make your home more emotional by having it professionally staged and decorated by a local design group?


20. Cooperation among real estate agents is paramount to getting the property sold. Yes, I am the one agent who is handling the marketing, but I am marketing to more than 3,000 real estate agents who handle a large percentage of buyers. My job is to market to them so that they can express their excitement of your home to their buyers. Let's discuss what we can do to make this home more exciting to the real estate agents here in town.


21. Real estate agents have many properties to show and sometimes the determining reason for showing is ease of access. Let's do some items to improve the showing procedure that will make it easily accessible to real estate agents at any time and a moment's notice.


22. I would like to obtain a price reduction and do some things that I have never done to market a home, such as advertising them in The Journal De Montrea and The Gazette. Spending money on an ad that would reach outside our geographical area is risky, but I would be willing to go ahead and give it a try if we had a more marketable price.


23. I was looking at your holding costs and found that if we drop your price and obtain a sale, we may eliminate many months of payments, taxes, insurance, and upkeep that I believe would compensate you for this price reduction. Let's discuss how this might work.


In all the years that I've done business, one of the hardest things I have to do is disappoint a client. The continued marketing of this property at the current price, that I now find is too high, only tends to disappoint you; therefore, I'd like to ask the following favor: would you please consider a price reduction? If that is impossible, would you allow me to discontinue my marketing efforts? It's very difficult for me to express to you since you have been so fair with me; however, I truly believe that unless we drop this price, the property will go unsold. I'm willing to give up my marketing effort and my listing to show you how clear I am that we need to adjust our price today.
I hope you can use one or all of these reasons to obtain a price reduction or to make improvements in terms of value. The phone is the most effective way to do this. Having your assistant call or mailing a price reduction request has proven to be ineffective. There are times when the real estate agent must pick up the phone - asking for a price reduction is one of those times.