CHAPTER 9 The Deal Duel – When Your Buyer Has a Black Belt in Negotiation (and You Just Showed Up with a Juice ed Up with a Juice Box) Let’s start with the bad news: There’s a pretty solid chance that the person trying to buy your house is basically the Liam Neeson of negotiation—they have a very particular set of skills, and they will use them.
Now, the good news:
You don’t need to be a master negotiator to protect yourself. You just need to avoid walking into the negotiation with a neon sign that says: “Hi, I’m desperate. Please take my house and all my equity.” Here’s the deal: Two things determine who wins in a negotiation: 1. How badly each person wants what’s on the table (motivation), and 2. Whether they know what they’re doing (skill). The Real-World Horror Story (Don’t Be This Seller) Let’s set the scene: • Seller puts their house on the market. • It sits. And sits. And sits. • Eight months go by. The seller has already moved to a
34
Powered by FlippingBook