Have you ever heard the term, ‘Talk is Cheap’?
When it comes to real estate, I would say that is true… 98 & 3/4% of the time (I had to throw in the Dr. Zeus line).
Just recently I negotiated a deal where everyone wanted to negotiate verbally. The other agent, his clients and even my clients… We’ll go back and forth I was told….
Back and forth? What does it matter if it’s only words? And what happens if the other side actually accepts the ridiculous verbal offer? Umm, I have to think about it… Yea right.
The last time I checked the reason we have written contracts is precisely because what people say and what they mean can be two different things. The magic about writing an offer on paper that there is something tangible, something real about putting an offer in words. In this day of hyper fast communication, we sometimes forget that seeing $500,000 on a legal document and signing your name beside it is a heck of a lot different than simply saying “I’ll give you $500,000 for that house”.
For agents, buyers and sellers alike, don’t estimate the power of a written offer and the subsequent negotiation that it entails. Do you want to offer way below market value for that house? Put it in writing.
Sure, there is a time for small verbal negotiation, and that is usually for what I like to call ‘moping up’, the small details that won’t make or break a deal and they definitely do not involve the purchase price.
In this case, my clients listened to me and they eventually got the house they wanted, but if we negotiated verbally I highly doubt a deal would have been reached.
Talk is Cheap, do you agree?
