Stonewall

No, I don’t mean Stonewall Jackson, although you should read a comment about him at the end of this article. I am referring to a negotiating strategy.

Stonewalling is defined in one dictionary definition as engaging in delaying tactics or refusing to cooperate. If you are trying to buy or sell a home, finding that the other party is stonewalling you can be particularly frustrating.

Most frequently I hear about this tactic from buyers who make an offer to buy a property and then find out that the seller will not respond to their offer or counter-offers the original asking price.

Let me make the point that when they work with their real estate agent, the sellers came up with a listing price. That said, they almost started out with a price that was lower than that and raised it a little to see what they might get. But they certainly had in mind that they would ultimately to accept an offer that was their original target price.

The stubbornness is frequently a case of “seller’s remorse,” where people start feeling emotional about their home of 32 years. Their refusal to negotiate is one way they can avoid “letting go.”

Sometimes you can have several sellers, perhaps heirs to a property, who end up with different ideas about what they ought to do. Their failure to agree doesn’t manifest itself when the property is listed, just later when they get an offer and a decision has to be made.

You should understand that their actions have nothing to do with the market price of the property and nothing to do with your offer.

This is the time that your agent should be working with the other agent who, I can assure you, is more frustrated about the irrational clients than you are. Sometimes it can help for both parties to agree to get an appraisal and everyone agrees that they will accept the appraiser’s value as the selling price. It is also not unrealistic for each party to get his own appraisal done and split the difference, if any. That’s rational and sometimes it works to help the other agent budge his clients.

It may also be a time when you should employ this tactic. You can stonewall too. Remember that at this stage, this is not about offers and market value; it’s about their perception of you. You want to create the impression to the sellers and, frankly, even to your own agent, that when you increase your offer a very small amount, you have done everything you are going to do. Tell them that if they don’t accept it, you are going on to the next property. You have to get them to really believe that you are walking.

It might be helpful at this point to imply that this other property is one you found on your own, without an agent, a FSBO – For Sale By Owner. That will get your agent excited too as he/she sees the commission going out the door with you. That will be another motivating factor to get everyone for off the dime.

Finally, this tactic was taken from real life at the time it was happening, a couple of weeks ago. I was the one who made the suggestion to the frustrated buyer, he used it, and 24 hours later, the previously intransigent seller accepted his offer. It worked, we’re about to fund his loan, and they will soon own the home. Quod erat demonstrandum!

Back to Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson , in my opinion he was probably the finest battlefield commander the United States Military Academy ever produced, at least up until George Patton came on the scene. If you are a Civil War buff or just want to find out a little more about Jackson and his impact in American history, you should read the excellent book Lost Victories: The Military Genius of Stonewall Jackson by Bevin Alexander.