Negotiation Tip: Do Not Make the Calculations, Let Them Do It

Whenever you’re doing a real estate negotiation, keep in mind that you must never make the calculations!
When it comes to calculations, it is best that you don’t give figures because people will never believe you. Instead, you give them the calculator and let them do the calculations themselves. If they get to do it themselves, they’ll likely believe what they see in the calculator. But if you do the calculations on their behalf, then dream on. It won’t get you anywhere because they won’t believe you!
Just like when do transactions with buying a house, the seller would say he wants $600,000 for the house; you can get them to calculate and set up the most gainful deal for the house. So, you come up to the seller with a deal and say, “If I can give you 10% more for the house, would we be able to work out an arrangement by which I can pay you 10% more but spread the total cost over 10 payments?” or 100 payments or whatever that might be. Afterwards, they might ask you, “Well how much is that going to be?”
The next thing you should do is, hand them the calculator and tell them, “Can you type in the figures? How much am I paying you for the house?” Then decide how many payments you are going to pay them and have the total costs divided by the number of payments and the result is the amount you need to be paying them every month.
Keep in mind that the seller must tell you and not you telling them. Because the moment you type in the figures into the calculator, they’ll never believe you!
Let’s say, the amount of $1634.45 is placed into the paperwork. At this point, it’s not you telling your seller but it’s a must that your seller tells it to you instead. Remember this: you must not and you cannot tell people about calculations or figures. If you do, you’ll be facing the worst case scenario. If you give them the figures, then don’t expect anything good to come out of your negotiations. If you do tell them the figures, they will likely say, “You know what, I think I still need the time to think about that, I still want to consult my lawyers and accountants first!” Now, isn’t going to be a problem?
Yes, it is. So, don’t make the calculations, let them do it instead!