How much should a price reduction be?

Enough to change who sees the home. A cut that keeps the listing in the same search range often does nothing. Look at the price bands buyers use on the major portals and aim to land inside a new one.

What if the seller fires me over a price conversation?

Tell your broker first. A seller who leaves because you told the truth usually relists at a lower price with somebody else. Keeping the conversation factual and in writing protects you.

For listing agents

Your seller will not lower the price. How to have the conversation.

You know the price is the problem. Your seller does not, or does not want to. Pushing harder rarely works, and saying nothing costs you the listing. This is how agents who have done it many times get a seller to decide for themselves.

Step 1

Take the opinion out of it

A seller hears "lower the price" as your opinion of their home. Show them what the market did instead: showings per week since launch, online views and saves, feedback from buyer agents, and every comparable that went under contract or sold while yours sat.

Step 2

Show what waiting costs

Sellers compare a reduction to nothing. Compare it to the real alternative: another month of mortgage, taxes, insurance and utilities, plus the discount buyers expect from a home that has been sitting. Written down, the cost of waiting is often larger than the reduction.

Step 3

Offer choices, not a demand

People accept a decision they made more easily than one handed to them. Lay out three or four paths and let them choose.

Price. A reduction big enough to land in a new search range.
Condition. Repairs, paint, staging or a cleaner first impression.
Terms. A credit toward closing costs or a rate buydown, if your broker approves.
Time. Wait, with an agreed date to look again.

Step 4

Agree the next step before you need it

End with a specific trigger: "If we have fewer than four showings in the next two weeks, we go to this price." The next conversation is then the plan you already agreed, not a new argument.

Your brokerage

Where your brokerage fits

If the seller is angry or talking about cancelling, tell your broker before it escalates. They may want to join the call, and the listing agreement belongs to the brokerage, not to you.
Concessions, credits and any change to the listing agreement go past your broker first.
Advisors on RealAly agree, before they are listed, never to use a session to recruit you to their brokerage or team. You keep your broker; you just get a second opinion from outside the office.

Questions

What agents ask

How much should a price reduction be?: Enough to change who sees the home. A cut that keeps the listing in the same search range often does nothing. Look at the price bands buyers use on the major portals and aim to land inside a new one.
What if the seller fires me over a price conversation?: Tell your broker first. A seller who leaves because you told the truth usually relists at a lower price with somebody else. Keeping the conversation factual and in writing protects you.