In the real estate business, everyone goes for the best price for the deal. It is with this thought that people would first consider every option that is being offered to them before settling on the winner. It is with this thought that real estate investors try to outwit one another so that they’ll be able to get the deal.

The general picture of this heavy competitive market is that investors try to outrun one another using price as the main factor. If one offers a price, the competing investor tries to offer a better one.

But it doesn’t always have to be about the price. There are people who would go for deals that have more benefits than just a good price. And, believe it or not, using this approach may be your ticket to the top!

You’ll notice that in general people do what their colleagues would do and think that working harder than the others would make you successful. That isn’t always the case. That is especially not the case when you’re in a competitive market wherein majority of you are seriously fighting to succeed over the rest.

In a market that’s full or hardworking businesspeople, it’s not enough to just work hard. You also have to work smart!

There are a few in the real estate business that have discovered a way to compete with each other without worrying about what most would worry about — the price to offer. Most investors worry about how much to offer to get a deal. Clearly, this isn’t smart way to get deals.

There may have been instances wherein an offer that is much higher than yours was chosen? Have you thought of why that happened, when your price was better?

It’s because price isn’t everything when you’re making a deal.

One thing you have to consider when trying to get a deal is what the seller wants and needs. Practicality would inspire you to think that they need the money. They do, yes. But that isn’t the only thing that they would want when you consider their emotional and psychological needs.

A person about to move out of his property would still be trying to adapt to the idea that he’ll lose his property and move into a new one. This uneasiness and the transition period to changes can be used as your weapons in getting a deal from them.

Instead of focusing on price, you focus on the seller’s needs. This is because most often than not, it’s these needs that will be prioritized more than the money.

So how do you use these needs to your advantage? Cater to it. Offer selective services that will be greatly appreciated by the sellers that they won’t care if your price for the property isn’t very attractive for them.

Here are some ideas and services that you can use for this strategy:

• Offer them a place to stay in for some time to help get used to the prospect of moving to a new place
• Offer to do the packing and moving of their stuff to their new place
• Hold back a portion of their profit which you will only give them when they have moved out of their sold property

These are just some of the services that you can offer to help the sellers accept your offer and do business with you.

In the business world, we call this a unique selling proposition. This is a well-known tactic used by many businesspeople to stand out from a very competitive market. Real estate business is no exception in having a very heavy competitive atmosphere and one way to stand out and get to the top is to offer something different and unique. Talk about working smart!

When we do deals in real estate, we’re talking money and profit. Money is one of the main reasons why we got into real estate, and it’s one of the most important factors in a real estate deal.

So it’s not ironic that one of the main hurdles that a real estate investor has to overcome is in finalizing the property’s value with the seller. Agreeing on the price of a property to be sold is a challenging situation. As the real estate investor, you have to think of a way to have your price considered for the property. You’ll be the one investing money in it, after all.

But it’s not always an easy flow when considering the price for the property, especially if your price is not what the seller had in mind. There are times when the seller’s price is lower than yours and would only give you a small profit at foreclosure.

It all boils down to how you can get the sellers to go with your prices. And there’s a way to have the sellers agree on your price without having to get on the seller’s bad side. You wouldn’t want the sellers to turn away from you when you force on them a price that may seem unreasonable to them.

All you really have to do is to make your price the reasonable market value for the property. Explain the breakdown of your total price to the seller. Let the seller contemplate on the real value of the property as you perceive it to be.

Step # 1: Ask for the seller’s price on the property.

Don’t directly state your price. Consider all odds first. The seller has his reasons for setting up a price. It’s good for your business relationship to hear the seller’s side of the deal. The last thing you want is to blow off the deal so you don’t want to force things on the seller and make him feel frustrated with you.

Step # 2: Agree with the seller’s price… for now.

You read it right. Agree with the seller’s price… for now. It’s a nice feeling when an idea is appreciated. The seller went for the price he thought was reasonable, and it is to be commended, even if it is has a big difference with your own price evaluation.

Step # 3: Bring in your price to the picture.

After taking the seller’s price into consideration, it’s time to bring in your price! Oftentimes there will be a great difference between your price and the seller’s price. You will have to give the breakdown of your own price then.

Enumerate to the seller the expenses, the discounts, and the minuses. You can include an investor discount of 10-20%, stress out the fix-up and repair costs if the property is really in despair, include the commissions, and other factors that have made up your market price.

Step # 4: Make them feel that what the seller is doing makes sense.

Throughout this whole process, the one thing that you have to remember is to make the seller feel like all that he’s been doing has made sense and is reasonable. Getting him or her to agree on your price will be at times frustrating. But you can still foster a good relationship with the seller when you don’t make him or her feel like he or she was mistaken on the market value of the property.

The property is fixed up, and the price is being decided. But one thing is absolute in getting the deal done and that is to maintain a healthy business relationship with the seller.