Common Mistakes
Negotiation Mistakes
In a private sale, you're negotiating against someone who does this every day. Most buyers do it a handful of times in their life — and it shows in the price.
Telling the agent your budget
When an agent asks 'what's your budget?', they're not making conversation. Whatever number you give becomes the floor of the negotiation, and your genuine maximum becomes the target.
A buyers' agent controls what the other side learns. Information flows one way — towards you.
Making offers with no evidence behind them
Offers plucked from the listing price or gut feel are easy for agents to dismiss. Without comparable sales evidence, you have no anchor for the negotiation and no credible reason for the seller to accept your number.
Professionals build offers from recent comparable sales, days on market, vendor circumstances and property condition — and present them in ways that are hard to wave away.
Bidding against yourself
Anxious buyers frequently raise their own offer without any counter from the seller, purely because the agent went quiet or hinted at 'other interest'. Silence and phantom buyers are standard pressure tools.
An experienced negotiator recognises the theatre, verifies what's real, and never improves an offer that hasn't been answered.
Winning the price but losing the terms
Price is only one lever. Settlement dates, deposits, inclusions and conditions can be worth real money — and sellers often value flexible terms as much as a higher number. Buyers fixated on price alone leave those levers unused.
A buyers' agent negotiates the whole deal, sometimes winning a property at a lower price because the terms were structured around what the vendor actually needed.
Related reading
- Property negotiation guide — how professionals build and present offers that get accepted.
- Buyers' agent services — put an experienced negotiator between you and the selling agent.
Frequently asked questions
The selling agent seems helpful — aren't they on my side?
The selling agent is legally engaged by the seller to achieve the best outcome for the seller. They can be professional and pleasant, but they are not working for you. A buyers' agent is the one who is.
How much can a good negotiator actually save?
It varies with the property and market, and no honest professional guarantees a number. What they change is the process: evidence-based offers, no leaked information, and no emotional decisions — which is where overpaying comes from.