One of the more difficult situations you will face as an agent comes when your client has a very clear idea about what an apartment is worth and the market is telling you something different. It happens with sellers who believe their apartment should command a certain price, and with buyers who believe their budget should buy more than the apartments they are seeing. The numbers matter, but the real challenge is helping your client understand what those numbers mean without turning the conversation into an argument about who’s right.
Expectations Usually Have a Reason
Before trying to change someone’s expectations, I think it’s important to understand where they came from.
A seller may know that an apartment upstairs sold for $1.4 million and believe theirs should sell for at least as much. What they may not appreciate is that the other apartment had a renovated kitchen, better light or a more desirable layout. A buyer may have seen several apartments online that appear to meet everything they’re looking for, only to discover that the photographs don’t show the condition, the view or something about the building that explains the price.
Those expectations aren’t unreasonable simply because they’re different from your assessment. They’re based on the information the client has.
That gives you somewhere to begin.
Let the Market Help With the Conversation
When you’re discussing value with a client, you should get away from the idea that this is my opinion against theirs.
The market gives us evidence.
With a seller, that means looking carefully at apartments that have actually sold, what is currently competing for the same buyers and what happened to properties that started at prices similar to the one being considered. The differences between apartments matter. In Manhattan, two apartments in the same building can have very different values because of floor, light, condition, exposure or layout.
With a buyer, the evidence is the apartments their budget is actually producing. After seeing enough of them, a pattern usually begins to emerge. If every apartment at a certain price requires the same compromise, the market is telling the buyer something useful.
The conversation becomes less about persuading the client and more about helping them see the information that’s already there.
Give the Client Room to Reach the Decision
You can present the evidence clearly and explain what you believe it means. Then the client has to decide what to do with it.
A seller may still choose a higher asking price. A buyer may decide to continue looking for something that hasn’t appeared yet. Those decisions belong to them.
Your value is in making sure they understand the choices and the likely consequences before they make them.
Sometimes the market itself will eventually reinforce the conversation. A listing doesn’t receive the expected response. A buyer watches another apartment they liked go into contract. Those experiences can change expectations in a way that another discussion never could.
When that happens, you want the client to feel comfortable coming back to you and reconsidering the decision.
The Conversation Can Matter Beyond This Deal
There is another reason these conversations matter.
Clients remember how you handle moments when you disagree.
If you listen to what they’re thinking, understand why they see things the way they do and give them useful information without making the decision for them, you’re demonstrating something about the kind of agent you are.
That matters during the current deal. It can matter even more afterward.
A client who learns that they can rely on your judgment is more likely to call you when another real estate question comes up, work with you again and recommend you when someone they know needs an agent.
That’s one of the ways the work you’re doing on today’s deal becomes part of the business you’re building for tomorrow.
Inside Agent goes deeper into the real-world situations that come up when you’re working with NYC clients and deals, and how experienced agents can think through them.
Think Beyond The Deal,
George.