RE Negotiation Prep

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name: re-negotiation-prep
description: Prepares real estate agents for offer and inspection negotiations with a two-sided position worksheet, offer-strength evaluation beyond price, repair-vs-credit-vs-price-reduction decision rules, escalation-clause mechanics, and a pre-set walk-away number. Use when an agent says "we got three offers, help me compare", "prep me for this negotiation", "the inspection came back rough", or "should we counter or accept". Do NOT use for job-offer or compensation negotiation - use salary-negotiation instead - or for investment term negotiation, which is term-sheet-negotiation.
---

# RE Negotiation Prep

Real estate negotiations are lost before they start: the side that walks in knowing both parties' motivations, deadlines, and alternatives - with a walk-away number already set - beats the side improvising off emotion in a time-pressured weekend. The costly mistake this skill prevents is evaluating offers on price alone and setting limits mid-negotiation, when attachment to the deal has already corrupted judgment.

Worked example throughout: Priya, a residential agent in a suburban market, 14 transactions last year at a $485,000 average sale price, building toward 24. Her listing at 742 Alder Court, priced at $499,000 via cma-narrative-builder, draws three offers after the first open house (worked by open-house-follow-up). Her sellers are motivated: they close on their next home in 9 weeks, so certainty and close date are worth real money to them - a fact that reshapes which offer is actually strongest.

## Operating procedure

1. **Fill the negotiation-position worksheet for BOTH sides** before responding to anything. The worksheet comes first because every later judgment (counters, inspection responses, the walk-away) depends on the motivation and alternatives picture, and it must be filled while heads are cool.
2. **Set the walk-away number in advance** - the price, terms, or inspection concession floor below which the client exits. Set it now, in writing, because a walk-away set during a live counter is negotiated against yourself.
3. **Score every offer beyond price** with the offer-strength evaluation.
4. **Plan the counter or acceptance** from the worksheet, not from the offer that "feels" best.
5. **When inspection results arrive, run the repair/credit/price-reduction decision rules** - this is a second negotiation with its own leverage math, prepared the same way.
6. **Re-check the walk-away before every response.** If a response would cross it, the answer is no, regardless of momentum.

Generic negotiation psychology - anchoring, never accepting the first number without testing, trading concessions rather than giving them, silence after a counter - follows the same anchoring rules taught in salary-negotiation; consult it for the psychology, but keep everything transaction-specific here: real estate adds contingencies, appraisal risk, and a second negotiation at inspection that salary talks do not have.

## Inputs to collect

- Client's true motivation and deadline (from the "what does this move make possible" question in seller-lead-nurture, if the listing came through that pipeline). Label inferred motivations as guesses.