This one shocked me. Made a lowball offer I figured would never in a gazillion years get accepted. And then the seller accepted! 😱 The agent asked if I wouldn't mind providing an explanation as to why my offer was so low, so her client, as she put it, "wouldn't be offended". So here's what I wrote: 𝘏𝘪 𝘑𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯, 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. 𝘐 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘈𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘣𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢 6-8% 𝘯𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘱 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘺𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺. 𝘞𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘺𝘦𝘳, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘢 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘭𝘭-𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘐𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦, 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶! Now, on to finding a buyer! If you know anyone looking for one of the cheapest ways ever to own long term 'a piece of the rock' (i.e. Boulder, CO, where median house prices typically range in the low seven figures, and where when real estate prices around the state slump, prices tend to just flatten out before heading skyward again), send 'em on over! 😊

I love sales, don't get me wrong. Talking to sellers and agents is actually a kick for me. What I don't love is doing stuff that doesn't need to be done. In other words, repeating over and over why my ideal prospects should do business with me and my business. Having conversations with property owners considering selling who never once bring up the subject of competing offers. 𝗘𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗲, 𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹. Why this matters is, you only have so many hours in the day, days in the week and weeks in a lifetime. Why spending them doing repetitive work a little well-planned marketing funnel can do for you. Just once. Set and forget. Drop a comment if you'd like me to walk through any particular inbound lead-gen strategy in a future post. Whichever gets the most interest gets posted first.

Today I had a conversation with a seller who was about withdraw from the deal. 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝗶𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. After explaining and exploring all the ways we could help everyone involved in the deal — himself, my business, the eventual buyers — he jumped back on board and even offered to extend the time required to close. 𝗕𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗽𝗶𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀, 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀. Not always. But sometimes having the vision helps buyers and sellers make the right decision. Where are you stuck in a negotiation where a little vision painting for the parties involved might help move things along?

As the Cheshire Cat explained to Alice: "𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰, 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘰." A newer investor recently asked: "𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘈𝘖?” That question sounds tactical. But it reveals a deeper problem: 👉 They don’t actually 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 what number they want. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 Before you ever open your mouth… 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝟯 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗿 𝙮𝙤𝙪 Not the seller. Not the agent. 𝙔𝙤𝙪. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 Early on, I’d go into deals “flexible.” Which is just a polite way of saying… I was letting the other side set the frame. Result? - I’d creep past my real MAO - I’d justify thin deals - I’d hesitate when it was time to push back - And worst of all… I’d feel *meh* about deals I *should* have been excited about Then I started walking in with three numbers locked: 1. 𝗪𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 — where the deal dies 2. 𝗔𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗿 — what I say out loud (with logic) 3. 𝗪𝗼𝗼𝗵𝗼𝗼!! — where I 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 it to land Everything changed. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 (𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝗶𝘁) Clarity beats cleverness. Sellers can 𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘭 hesitation. If you don’t define value, the market will define it for you. "Working your way up” is what amateurs do when they’re unsure. Clarity lets you stay calm when others get emotional. You stop negotiating to “win” and start negotiating to buy right. You can’t confidently say no… unless you already decided where yes ends. 𝗗𝗼 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 You’re not trying to “land at MAO.” You’re trying to land at a number where you’re thinking: “I can’t wait to blast this to my buyers.” That’s the deal. 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹… Don’t start with your offer. Start with your 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀. If you want, drop a deal you’re working on below and I’ll help you pressure-test your range.