24 ways to ask for a price reduction

by Walter Sanford    Asking for price reductions can make or break a top real estate agent’s business. Not only will price reductions quicken the sale, and therefore, minimize overhead in a real estate agent’s business, but it will also prove to everyone that your marketing systems work. Remember, price is 90% of any marketing plan, and the faster you achieve market value, the faster everybody’s needs are met.

We’ve all experienced sellers who no matter how much information is given them—including pre-listing sales packages that include pricing technologies and scientific research showing the exact value of their home—still want more! What are we to do?
If everything that should be done has been done, and you still have an overpriced listing, you either knew it was overpriced and took it anyway or made a mistake because you liked the property more than anyone else did. There’s also a third possibility: The seller was a better salesperson than you and sold you on the high price. Whatever the case, you’re now going to have to ask for a price reduction—one of the most embarrassing acts you have to perform in this business.

How do you ask for a price reduction when you told the seller that you could market the home at the agreed-upon price? Sometimes, you get furious responses, such as: “Anybody can sell this house at that price,” or “The other agent said he could get more,” or “Do you expect me to lose money?” All these responses ignore the main subject: Market value is market value, and none of the above has anything to do with market value.

The following lead-ins can be used to ask for a price reduction, but it is very important that you use new subjects as often as possible when you approach the idea with a seller so you don’t sound monotonous.
Here are 24 lead-ins you can use to ask for a price reduction. Every situation is different, but these ideas will help you get this difficult conversation started.

1. There’s been a new sale of another home in your neighborhood that affects the value of your home.
2. Here are some of the responses we’ve received from other agents.
3. Here are the responses I received from buyers I have shown.
4. Here are responses I have heard from buyers shown by other agents.
5. Here are the responses from the agents in my office.
6. Here are the attitudes of the real estate agents who attended the broker open house.
7. Here are the attitudes of the buyers who walked through your home during the open house.
8. Here are the responses that we received from the ad we placed.
9. Here are some suggestions that I might do if it were my home to make it more appealing to buyers. Oh, by the way, rather than just making these improvements why don’t we drop the price to compensate for some improvements the buyer may want to make?
10. Why don’t we increase the selling-office commission? If I sell it, I will stick to the original terms of the listing agreement.
11. May we add a selling-office bonus?
12. May we add points so that financing becomes easier for a buyer?
13. I know that this offer was low and the buyer did not accept our counter offer, however, may I lower the price to the amount we mentioned in the counter offer to attract more interested buyers?
14. May we ask for some concessions on the home that you’re buying and then supply those same concessions to any potential buyers on their home?
15. May we offer preferential owner financing and make the property more affordable to any potential buyers?
16. We have an open house (or new ad or new e-mail) going out, and I would certainly love to be able to market this home at a new and improved price.
17. I’m going to be taking the property out of the MLS and resubmitting it as a new listing, thereby acquiring a new look and new enthusiasm among the cooperating real estate agents here in town. I’d like to do that at a lower price.
18. Is there anything that we could throw in that would sweeten the pot—appliances, vehicles, maybe even a free vacation at a time share?
19. Many times we have found that emotions play a big role in the sale of a home. Therefore, can we make your home more affective by having it professionally staged and decorated by a local design group?
20. Cooperation among real estate agents is paramount to getting the property sold. Yes, I am the one agent who is handling the marketing, but I am marketing to more than (number) real estate agents who handle a large percentage of buyers. My job is to market to them so that they can express their excitement of your home to their buyers. Let’s discuss what we can do to make this home more exciting to the real estate agents here in town.
21. Real estate agents have many properties to show and sometimes the determining reason for showing is ease of access. Let’s do some things to improve the showing procedure that will make it easily accessible to real estate agents at any time at a moment’s notice.
22. I would like to obtain a price reduction and do some things that I have never done to market a home, such as advertising them in the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal. Spending money on an ad that would reach outside our geographical area is risky, but I would be willing to go ahead and give it a try if we had a more marketable price.
23. I was looking at your holding costs and find that if we drop your price and obtain a sale, we may eliminate many months of payments, taxes, insurance, and upkeep that I believe would compensate you for the price reduction. Let’s discuss how this might work.
24. In all the years that I’ve done business, one of the hardest things I have to do is disappoint a client. The continued marketing of this property at the current price that I now find is too high only tends to disappoint you. Therefore, I’d like to ask the following favor. Would you please consider a price reduction, and if that’s impossible, would you allow me to discontinue my marketing efforts? It’s very difficult for me to express this to a seller who’s been fair with me and about a home that I’d like nothing more than to market and sell, however, I truly believe that unless we drop this price, the property will go unsold. I’m willing to give up my marketing effort and my listing to show you how clear I am that we need to adjust our price today.

I hope you can use any one or all of these lead-ins to obtain a price reduction or improvement in terms of value. There are times when the real estate agent must pick up the phone, and the price reduction is one of them.

Walter Sanford, a former top-producing real estate agent, is a leading real estate speaker, trainer, and coach. Visit his Web site at WalterSanford.com.