(Part 3 in a series of tips on how to negotiate successfully and keep emotions to a minimum when buying or selling a house.)

 When negotiating on buying or selling a home, “keeping your eye on the prize,” i.e., the house, is tantamount. Look at all the moves by the other side as chess pieces being pushed around. Some are important, some are not. Some are mere pawns, to be sacrificed to achieve a higher goal. Remember that conversation you had with yourself in Part One? Go back to that and remind yourself of the decisions you made about what was important in this deal. That’s your goal.

Negotiating is like chess, a game in which you advance and retreat, make concessions of unimportant points and work toward capturing the king. It is not like checkers where you can only push forward all the time and try to accrue as many of the other side’s pieces as possible. Stay focused, ignore the white noise you hear from the competition and work toward your goal of buying or selling your home at the price and with the concessions you really want.

Next Blog: Let Your Realtor be the Messenger.

For more information, contact Vanessa Saunders.