SELLING

As a seller, you probably don’t want to accept a potential buyer’s initial offer on your home if it’s less than your asking price.
Buyers usually expect a back-and-forth negotiation, so their initial offer will often be below your list price—but it may also be lower than what they actually would like to pay. So, usually sellers will make a counteroffer with a price that’s higher but still below their list price, because they’re afraid of losing the potential customer. They prefer to seem flexible and want to negotiate to close the deal. In many cases this strategy does indeed work in terms of getting the property sold, as many sellers would agree with this, but it’s not necessarily the best way to maximize the profit. Instead of dropping your price, counter by sticking to your listed purchase price. Someone who really wants to buy will remain engaged and come back to you with a higher offer. Assuming that you’ve priced your property fairly to begin with, countering at your list price shows that you know what your property is worth and you intend to get your desirable price. There are pros and cons in this approach, some buyers will be turned off by your unwillingness to negotiate. You do risk having a buyer walk away when you use this strategy. However, you’ll also avoid wasting time on buyers who make low- price offers and won’t close any deal unless they can get a bargain. A variation on countering at your list price is to counter just slightly below it, conceding by perhaps $1,000. Use this approach when you want to be tough but are afraid that appearing too inflexible will drive away buyers.

If you’re confident enough, you can try a negotiation tactic that’s more serious than countering at your list price: Reject the buyer’s offer—but don’t counter at all. To keep them in the game, you can ask them to submit a new offer. If they’re really interested, and you haven’t turned them off, they will.

This strategy shows that you know your property is worth what you’re asking for it. If the buyer resubmits, they’ll have to make a higher offer—unless they decide to submit the same or even a lower offer.

When you don’t counter, you’re not ethically locked into a negotiation with a particular buyer, and you can accept a higher offer if it comes along. For the buyer, knowing that someone may submit a better offer at any moment creates pressure to submit a more competitive offer quickly if they really want the property. This strategy can be particularly useful if the property has only been on the market for a short time or if you run an open house coming soon.