The Fine Line Between Representing Both the Buyer and Seller
As a real estate agent, it’s inevitable that you’ll face a time in your career when you’ll be on both sides of the sale — being a buyers agent and a sellers agent. In the real estate industry, this is called a Dual Listing. When you’re a real estate professional it’s likely this is a career bucket list item that you can’t wait to check off. What if you were faced with representing both the buyer and the seller on your next big sale? Would you be prepared?
To be prepared when a dual listing comes knocking on your front door, you need to have the necessary mental preparation and knowledge to know how to navigate both sides like the champ you are!
In this blog, we’re going to cover the fine line between representing both the buyer and seller.
Buyer versus Seller… Seller versus Buyer Mental Preparation
As a real estate agent, you’re often faced with various daily tasks. Everything from marketing your latest deal, to selling a home and even acting as an interior designer or event planner when staging an open house. Without realizing it, you’ve been fine tuning your mental preparation from the moment you received the listing from the seller.
Here are some mental preparation tips to help you on negotiation day:
· Get a full night of rest the day before
· Eat a well-balanced and healthy breakfast
· Go for a morning walk, do yoga, or go to the gym before you start your work day
· Be on time
· Run through pretend conversation scenarios on your drive to the office so you already know how you should respond… Or act these out with a co-worker or assistant the day/night before.
What do I do After an Offer is Submitted?
Congratulations! Your open house was a success and you now have an offer to submit to the seller. It’s the listing agents responsibility to deliver any written offers to the client via telephone, email, text, or with an in person conversation. We recommend an in-person meeting, however, we realize this may not be in the best interest, or an option, for either parties. In that case, we recommend having a professional telephone call.
Keep in mind, while you’re representing both parties and gaining a larger commission, it’s not about the sale commission and earning potential. It’s about ensuring both of your clients are happy with the overall outcome and feels you gave them 100% throughout the process. This encourages repeat business or referrals in the future.
How to Handle the Negotiations Process
As the lead real estate professional on the property, you’re the peacemaker between both parties. It’s imperative when the buyer comes to you, to offer suggestions on what is a respectable offer price, remind the buyer of the property benefits, and ensure you’re being honest with the buyer on what the sellers expectations are. Remember, you have the upper-hand in this situation because you already know the seller and what their bottom dollar is.
When discussing the offer with the seller, be honest in your feelings on if the offer is a good starting point. Offer encouragement that they should negotiate by giving a counter-offer. Play with the numbers by giving counter price suggestions.
It is important to remember when you’re speaking with either parties, that you have a confidentiality right and should hold back any information that would be detrimental to the success of the sale. Part of being a real estate professional is knowing what you should or should not say and when to say it.
If things get heated, papers get thrown or doors slammed, remain calm, take a deep breath, and most importantly think before you speak. You don’t want to say anything to cause added harm, upset or lose either party. This is also why it is a good idea to act out possible scenarios with an assistant so you’re mentally prepared for multiple scenarios should they occur.
You now have some great suggested tips on the fine line between representing both the buyer and the seller on a dual listing. Go put them into action!
