A Bad Renegotiation Strategy in Sacramento Real Estate

If you’re thinking about using a bad renegotiation strategy in Sacramento real estate, listing agents everywhere urge you to reconsider that tactic. That kind of game plan is hard enough to pull off in a normal real estate market, or even a buyer’s market. But our present market is a seller’s market in Sacramento. Apart from a bad renegotiation strategy being annoying as hell, it just doesn’t work. It backfires.

What am I talking about? The guys (mostly investors but not always) whose bad renegotiation strategy is to lock down a property and then try to lowball at the 11th hour. You wonder about this especially when the offer starts out low and then suddenly leapfrogs into the realm of possibility. That’s the first red flag. It makes me wonder what the buyer is possibly thinking by offering less than list price starting out. Dude, we generally get multiple offers, and if we don’t, we will if we wait.

You know, like, say, the listing is $700,000 for example, and the buyer submits an idiotic offer at $625,000. When you ask the buyer, what? Are you crazy? The sales price is $700,000, if you want it, pay $700,000. And the buyer immediately says OK, that’s a red flag.

Then, after a few weeks pass, after the inspections, which are all fairly minimal regarding findings, the buyer tosses a wrench into escrow. Usually it’s some stupid thing like the buyer wants to remodel. So the buyer submits an estimate for his remodeling costs and expects the seller to participate by funding those projects. That’s an insane proposition. It’s a bad renegotiation strategy.

Wahhhh, the buyer whines, why won’t you pay for my new pool?

I especially enjoy the buyers who tell their agents: What can it hurt to ask? Makes me want to wring their necks for not thinking. Just stop focusing on yourself and consider ramifications. It DOES hurt to ask. Big-time. It infuriates the seller. It makes the seller angry and unwilling to help the buyer do anything. When the seller says no, absolutely not, and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, the buyer moves on to his next victim.

Throw enough crap at the wall enough times, maybe something will stick, is the buyer’s rationale. What kind of reputable buyer’s agent wants to go through that agony? If a buyer’s intention all along is to try to finagle a lower price, that means the offer submitted was not a real offer. It probably breaches all of the good faith covenants in the contract. It’s a lousy way to try to buy real estate in Sacramento.