- Future Discount. Tell the seller that if you get an
offer that really stretches their bottom-line, you can
negotiate a discount with the cooperating agent.
Then when you receive an offer through another
agent, you can negotiate with that agent to reduce
their brokerage fee and help get the offer accepted.
Once the agent is already in the door with his buy-
ers, he can’t walk away from your request. He’ll
have to consider it. If the cooperating agent decides
not to negotiate the brokerage fee, then you can offer
to split the discount with him. Most of the time, the
seller won’t even mention your future discount offer
by the time an offer comes through. - Verbal Cancellation Listing.Offering a verbal can-
cellation listing agreement can outweigh most dis-
counts that you encounter. This type of listing
agreement has no expiration date and can be can-
celed verbally by the seller at any time. The seller will
almost always take you up on this offer because
there are no strings attached and they are not
“locked in” to a contract with you for a long period
of time.
The reason why this is to your advantage is be-
cause the seller rarely cancels the listing with you on
their own. I’ve had sellers suggest a three-month list-
ing and light up with excitement when I suggest a
verbal cancellation listing. The listing would then go
well beyond the initial three months that they sug-
gested. Why is that, you say? When there is an expi-
The Real Estate Agent’s Guide to FSBOs