3 Negotiating Styles That Decide Your Home Sale

By Brandie Jones

With nearly 20 years of experience and hundreds of homes sold since 2006, Brandie Jones is known for putting people first.

When most people hear the word negotiation, they picture a fight: someone slamming a fist on the table and refusing to budge. Selling your home isn’t that, and it shouldn’t be. The best outcomes come from a calmer, smarter approach, and you’re not the one doing most of that work. It’s the agent you hire.

That’s the part worth sitting with. You don’t have to be a master negotiator yourself. You just have to hire one, which means knowing how to tell the difference. Most agents fall into one of three negotiating styles, and only one of them consistently works in your favor.

The competitive negotiator usually costs you. This is the old-school, winner-take-all type, the agent who’s proud to be known as cutthroat and unyielding. It sounds tough, but it rarely works. Deals drag out, buyers get frustrated, and other agents don’t enjoy working with them, which quietly costs you offers. A big ego at the table tends to come out of your bottom line, not the buyer’s.

The compliant negotiator caves too easily. This is the opposite problem. This agent avoids conflict at all costs, so they give in to whatever the other side asks and then talk you into doing the same. They might be perfectly pleasant, but pleasant isn’t the job. If your agent folds every time a buyer pushes, they aren’t protecting your interests. Keep in mind that a buyer who truly wants your home will negotiate, so you can afford to hold your ground.

The collaborative negotiator gets you more. This is the style that actually delivers, and it’s how I work for my sellers. A collaborative agent comes prepared, listens, and asks questions to understand what every party really wants. They set goals for your sale with you, keep you realistic from the start, and look for creative solutions when offers come in.

They’ll compromise on the small things so the big deal goes through, and they keep their ego out of it, because the point is your result, not being right. It can look soft to someone who’s never studied negotiation, but it’s the strongest approach there is, and it’s exactly what Harvard teaches in its negotiation courses.

You have a role to play too, and it isn’t dealing with the buyer directly. Let your agent handle that. Your job is to keep your top priorities front and center so you don’t get pulled off course, to stay calm and think decisions through instead of reacting in the moment, and to listen and ask questions when you don’t understand why a compromise is on the table.

You always have the final say, so the goal is simply to make each call with clear eyes and good information. And be direct with your agent: if you don’t like how something is going, say so and explain why.

All of this is why the interview matters before you ever list. When you’re choosing who represents you, ask a few pointed questions: what negotiation training and courses they’ve taken, what credentials they hold, and what they consider the most important part of a negotiation.

Their answers will tell you quickly whether they’ve actually built this skill or just claim to have it. It’s the same care you’d want them bringing to pricing your home and reading today's market before you go live.

Selling your home is one of the biggest financial decisions you’ll make, and the person negotiating on your behalf should be protecting your future, not their ego. If you’re thinking about selling anywhere in Los Angeles County and you want that kind of representation, I’d love to talk. Call or text me at 310-930-5495, email me at bjones@kingdomrealtyteam.com, or visit blog.kingdomrealtyteam.com.