I’ve learned that real estate is one of the only professions where agents are CONSTANTLY being asked to dock their pay. Part of it is that people don’t see or understand the value that Realtors offer. Perhaps they think we just sit around twiddling our thumbs. So a large part of this job is educating people on what it is we do and to argue our value. To me, aside from knowing the market, knowing the contracts and process, knowing the resources out there, having relationships with lenders/other agents/vendors, realtors are also negotiators for their clients.

When I took that negotiation class recently, I realized that Chinese people are really good negotiators, bc as the instructor pointed out: China and Taiwan are negotiating countries where money is scarce and labor/time is abundant, so people will spend time to save pennies. The other big aha from that class: negotiating is different from just getting a discount. With negotiating, you get a discount, but the other party gets something out of it too.

My friends know me as a bargain hunter. I find discounts and coupons and what have you. I oftentimes get things for cheaper, but I realized that my technique is super basic: I just make the ask, and yeah, it has served me well. But only a few times have I truly negotiated.

One of my first times was when I negotiated the salary for a nonprofit job. It was way low, but I knew that the person in the position was leaving very soon. So I asked for higher pay, and I offered to start immediately so as to have training overlap. I also asked for higher salary bc I wasn’t going to need their health benefits so that would save them expenses and administration time. So see, it wasn’t simply asking for a discount just bc.

My dad is the ultimate negotiator. He began handling money from a very young age, helping his farmer parents sell bananas and produce. My father always did the math side of the business: making change, calculating costs/expenses, tallying up all the day’s transactions, etc. so his mental math skills were super sharp. But also, he developed a very keen business acumen, bc my grandparents pooled community money to buy farmland and then thought of ways to generate wealth through leasing plots to other farmers, etc. It’s crazy to think of the skills you learn from your childhood.

When I was growing up, my father negotiated everything. At times, it felt so tedious and uncomfortable, bc American culture just doesn’t negotiate. I remember one time in college, I asked for a price match on a $125 bike rack and the owner got so pissed. He just shooed me away and all I did was ask if he would consider matching the shop down the road ($100). Maybe it was my fault, bc I didn’t point out what was in it for him. I know now, after having door knocked and canvassed, people react in all different ways. You just move on. 

Before we had our family home custom built in the 80s, my father had researched land lots. He found a place with two adjacent lots owned by a single owner, and then he asked if his friend wanted to purchase the lot next door. Since dad was bringing the purchase of two lots at once, he negotiated a discount. Later, he negotiated discounts from all the vendors and contractors: he not only brought them a second customer without any marketing/effort but by having our lots adjacent, the crews could save on travel/staging/equipment rental costs, etc. And this discount amplified many times over, from the architect to the asphalt paving to the lawn mowing crew… See, would you have thought of that? It’s an interesting extension of that idea from his youth where neighbors pooled resources for purchases and then tried to leverage their buying power.

Many years later, my father wanted to renovate the basement to create more bedrooms should his family ever move to the States. He negotiated a discount by offering to be flexible on the project timing. So typically, carpenters/electricians/contractors are less busy in the winter months. My father asked for a discount in exchange for having them work during a lighter season. And this example comes to mind, bc my teacher specifically told a story about how he negotiated cheaper gas at his local station. First, he asked questions about whether the owner had daily gas quotas in order to get better wholesale rates from the suppliers. Yes. Which days were his slow days where he had trouble reaching the goals. Wednesdays, but he was often short like x gallons– an amount far more than a single customer. So what happened? My teacher negotiated a discount by getting all his realtor friends in on it: they would pump their gas on Wednesdays from that station and get a discount. Pretty crazy, right?

I think I’m pretty good at making the ask, but I want to work on negotiating by highlighting what’s in it for them. Of course, I’ve started practicing already.  We have one final step for our bathroom reno where the plumbers have to come back and put in the trim (fixtures). By habit, I made the ask: would you consider a discount given the amount of recent project work we’ve done? Then I realized I hadn’t pointed out what they get out of it. So while he was still considering, I offered to be flexible with their schedule… they can squeeze us in whenever they have an opening and we are also located nearby in MV. He gave me a discount! Not huge but still 15%! 

I’m thinking that I will go back to Comcast and negotiate my rates again. I already do that pretty regularly, arguing that I’m a longtime customer, but I might try the angle of asking how much they pay to market to new users. I’m an existing and I’m happy with their service and in my real estate work, there may be opportunities where I can share my positive experiences with Comcast… haha. We’ll see what happens. 

We’re also contemplating a new roof, and I was thinking to employ the same strategy dad used: see if any neighbors are considering and then we can get a group discount and time it so the contractor can consolidate his mobilization/supply costs.

Incidentally, I am visiting my parents this weekend, so I’m sure dad will put me to work on vendor calls.