For Sale By Owner

Situation

You've found a house you are interested in that is "For Sale By Owner." You think the price is a bit high, but when you talk to the owner she says she has to sell quickly and move for a new job, and has priced the house $30,000 less than assessed value. That assessment seems out of line with surrounding properties. The seller also indicates that she has another offer on the table.

Identification, analysis, and counteraction of tactics used.

The owner is using deliberate deception and is hoping that the buyer is unskilled in the home buying process. Although we can not be certain that she is falsifying her assessment value, the proper research has deemed that her claimed assessment is out of line with surrounding properties. She is not only bending the truth of the assessed value, but she might be creating a competing buyer. This deceptive tactic attempts to rush me into making my decision and not validating her claims.

She is utilizing these naughty tactics to persuade me into a rush decision. The false assessment value will lure me into thinking that I am getting a once-in-a-lifetime deal. She's hoping to cloud my thinking and hurry my choice through the factious competition. Her intended results include achieving a win-lose situation. She is using trickery to manipulate me into thinking that I'm getting a fantastic value.

A well-versed negotiator should see through this deception. Before I entered into the negotiation, I researched the surrounding property assessments. While I didn't know this particular home's true appraisal, the research empowered me to deflate her deception. I told her that the assessment was not in-line with surrounding properties and wanted to see where she was getting her valuation from. It is impossible to prove that she fabricated the other buyer, but by questioning her values I