“Hi Mr. and Mrs Buyer,

Thanks for being for being open about your concerns. I fully understand your thought process. Many people feel the same way when dealing with Realtors. The lure of discount brokerages is not new and certainly can be enticing.

In hiring a full service Realtor, such as myself, you are hiring an individual with expertise in many different areas, not just in Calabasas. However; I live, work and play in Calabasas. My child goes to school here. I have seen all houses of interest on the market inside and out. I have also built solid relationships with many of the agents that work in Calabasas. Even if I don’t know them directly, they know of me. In fact I am not just a real estate agent, I’m a licensed CA Real Estate Broker. I have also have received the GRI and SRES designation. The GRI is a year long real estate designation that less than 10% of agents have nationwide. The SRES designation means that I am an expert in helping Seniors find housing. The education is helpful, but my main motivation when I obtained the extra license and designations was that it helps me when negotiating for my clients. Let me explain.

When a (good) listing agent receives an offer, one of the first things they will do is see which agent wrote the offer. If it’s an unknown agent from out of the area or a discount broker they know that they have the upper hand. We go so far as to Google other agents to see what type of negotiator and how much experience they have. When someone Googles me, it’s becomes crystal clear that I know my stuff.

The letter that I sent over to the other agent with your XXXX Street offer did not say much, but the conversation that I had with the listing agent on the phone is what facilitated the sellers dropping the price $111,900 (nearly 6%) in the opening round of negotiations. He tried to use the list of comparable sales that he had and we literally went through his 20 comparables one by one. I had them thrown out for one reason or another. Primarily because I had seen the house and knew that it was not a similar property because of amenities, area, year built, etc. This is my area of expertise, I know the houses, I know what they sold for, I even know the back story on many. I know if it was divorce, or another problem. I have that information because this is my business. The discount broker or an outside agent does not have access to this information.

When you hire an attorney, you have a choice to hire an inexperienced lawyer for $150 hour or a seasoned veteran who knows all the tricks and the players. For this you will pay much more. Many times you pay $600 an hour or more. But for your money you get knowledge and power. You can do things with a high powered attorney that you could never do with a new discount lawyer. The amount per hour is so much less than the time or money that the experienced lawyer saves you.

This is the same in real estate. If you would have used Discount Broker to submit this offer and negotiate this transaction, you would be almost acting alone. They just write the number you tell them to and send it over. Then when the counter comes back, you tell them what to write next. They will prepare a comparable market analysis, but it would have been exactly like the one that the listing agent from ABC Company provided. They wouldn’t have been able to get a counter this low.

I educated the listing agent on the phone on the other properties. I told him what to tell his sellers. I gave him the ammunition to get the price reduction. It’s all about market knowledge and understanding people. I am the best at this and this is why I do well.

Again, I understand your feelings, but in the long run I will protect your money and investment as if it were my own.

And just so you understand, once an offer is accepted and goes in to escrow there are more negotiations to come. The home inspection usually brings around more items that need to be negotiated. My Rolodex is full of experts that will help me to help you get accurate information on repairs and negotiate these repairs etc.

This business is not just what you know, but whom you know also.

In closing, life is like Texas hold ‘em, we are dealt cards, but how we play them is based on our skill level. It may look easy, but until you sit across from Phil Hellmuth you don’t know what a real poker player is all about.

I hope you will reconsider now that you have all of the information. Please let me know how you’d like to proceed as the counter offer expires today at 5:00PM. “

” Life is like Texas Hold’em … you not only play the game extremely well … you are certainly one of the pro players I would back in my business!!

Thank you for taking the time to answer. Your answer is not only appreciated but it is accepted.

With that … please provide our counter-offer at $1.81 million. “