Time - The World's Most Expensive Commodity

The other side of the Motivation Triangle is "time" which is the major determinant of how motivated a seller is.

If the seller's reason for selling a property is "found another property" but the seller needs six months to save up a deposit first, then this is not a motivated seller!

Very often, we come across sellers who need to complete within a month due to some urgent reasons. Yet, they refuse to give any kind of concession with the price or consider our other proposals, as if they still have a lot of bargaining power!

We're not saying you should take advantage of this poor seller. But if one month is all the seller has to sell the property, it is a very urgent matter. Many people don't realise something is urgent until it's too late. Do you ever wonder why some people are surprised when the bailiffs knock on their doors? They would have received and ignored many warning letters or court summons already.

If a seller is oblivious or indifferent about their situations, we often use a little technique called "pain & pleasure"

. Just follow these two steps:

1. Help the seller visualise the consequences of ignoring the problem (bailiffs knocking on the door, the social stigma of bankruptcy, the stress of paying two mortgages, etc).

2. Reiterate the advantages of your offer or proposal and how they can quickly remove the "pain" that you have helped the seller visualise or feel.

You see, most people are motivated by the needs to avoid pain and gain pleasure. By "painting a picture" of pain and offering a solution to gain pleasure of "not experiencing the pain", you've heightened the seller's sense of urgency. Suddenly, your offer seem a lot more attractive!

Kind regards,

John & Vincent