Real estate agents call negotiating repairs the second round of negotiations. After an agreement is reached, the seller’s mindset shifts from a position of questioning the original deal to supporting the completion of the agreement; as the seller releases his emotional attachment to the home and makes purchases and plans to move, the seller’s commitment to the completion of the deal strengthens.  On the other side of the transaction, the buyer frequently gets a case of “buyer’s remorse,” so the buyer’s commitment to the sale decreases.

This second round of negotiations is the most frustrating for real estate agents.  If you have a Team with a closing coordinator to handle the issues from the signing of the contract to the closing of the sale, you may want to teach them how to negotiate the repair issues.

In the book, Create A Great Deal, the items you can do for a seller are discussed. An inspection before putting the home on the market can eliminate repair issues, or it can give you a disclosure disaster. You need to know when to do it and when to avoid it.

Do you know how to set reasonable expectations for your buyers? Can you explain the difference between the standards that inspectors have to follow and the requirements for repairs in your contract? Do you know how to make your repair request sound smaller and more reasonable? When do you just let certain repairs go?

I have not had every repair issue possible come up over the last 29 years of selling real estate, just the vast majority of them. I would like to share what I have learned, so that your sales will close more often and more smoothly.

For a more detailed discussion on this topic, please go to http://createagreatdeal.com/featured/do-not-lose-the-sale-over-repairs/.