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Top 3 Tips for a Successful Negotiation

1. Be a good listener. We’ve found that if you actually let the other person (your negotiation adversary, per se) do most of the talking, you can learn enough in order to be successful in getting the most out of your negotiation. Whether it is a short sale, negotiating in a traditional real estate transaction or in some other sort of negotiation, when you listen to your adversary, you might be able to hear ways in or weak points that you can work on to your advantage.
2. Don’t lose your cool. While some may not agree, one of the keys to a successful negotiation is to keep your cool. Have you heard the phrase, “It’s better to attract bees with honey than with vinegar”? Well, that applies to negotiations. If you want to get your adversary to agree to some of your points or to become more malleable on certain factors, it is a good idea to kill them with kindness and keep your cool.
3. Ask lots of questions. This is one of our personal favorites. Asking your adversary lots and lots of questions may help you in a number of ways. Have you ever seen a lawyer ask questions in court? They lead the person who answers the questions in a very specific direction. You can do the same with negotiations if you ask calculated and leading questions. The three styles above are just some of the ways in which our short sale negotiation team has been able to successfully work with even the most difficult of lending institutions on some very challenging short sales.

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