Let me tell you a story:
(a bit long, but I promise I have a tip for your next BF promo at the end)
A friend of mine was selling a house. On August 17, he met with a buyer who saw the listing at ~310k. After THREE hours of negotiation…
The buyer told him:
“I want a 1,600 dollar discount.”
(approximately)
This is weird.
Sure, 1,600 isn’t a penny. Yet…
It makes almost zero difference under a 40-YEAR prime interest rate.
My friend was tired. This meeting had already delayed his original itinerary.
So… he rolled his eyes, sighed, and agreed to the 0.5% discount.
But right before they signed the contract:
The buyer asked:
“News is—the government is cracking down on real estate speculation. This means it might be harder to get a loan. Can I ask for a favor?”
“huh?”
“According to the contract, I must finance the house before Nov 8. Can you give me one more month—until December—so I have more time to get a mortgage?”
My friend agreed.
They shook hands and finished the paperwork.
…
…
A month later…
On Sep 23, my friend got a call from the Scrivener saying:
“The taxation bureau wants more documentation from the court. They said the application you submitted in May lacked a few things.”
It was annoying, but there’s nothing he can do…
So, my friend went to the court to file the documents immediately.
…
…
Another month went by…
On Oct 30, my friend got another call from the Scrivener:
“The court said there was one mistake in the wording of your follow-up application. You must resubmit by changing the word ‘correction’ to ‘resubmission’.”
*facepalm*
My friend rushed to the court to resubmit—word-by-word what they asked for—before the end of the day.
…
…
Another month went by…
Nov 8.
*DING-DING*
The phone rang.
My friend picked up and saw the name of the Scrivener…
“WHAT NOW?!”
He yelled—almost threw his iPhone into the trash.
After a few rings, he mustered the courage to take the call.
“Hello?”
“…yeah, I have some bad news for you. You’ll probably want to sit down.”
“…go ahead.”
“According to the contract, we’re supposed to hand over the house today. But…”
“…”
*swallow*
“Don’t panic”
“…get it over with”
“So, since we can’t hand over the house until we get the final approval from the court, the buyer sent out a Cease and Desist Letter demanding daily liquidated damages starting on Nov 8.”
“…are you KIDDING me?”
“I thought we had an agreement on extending to December?”
“Yeah, but it was only one-sided for the mortgage.”
Two lessons:
FIRST
Our legal system is designed to be overly complicated to profit the lawyers. Learn to protect yourself.
SECOND
There were many red flags.
(e.g. the buyer showing up over an hour late for a meeting she called)
But the biggest one was the buyer asking for a 0.5% discount.
The discount seekers—people who fight over every dollar—are always the worst customers. That’s why –
You should avoid it for Black Friday.
Be creative:
~ Exclusive access
~ Store credits
~ Bundled deals
~ Additional bonuses
There are infinite ways to sweeten the deal WITHOUT retreating to 15% off.
With that being said…
If you’re scratching your head trying to come up with a better offer than “50% off for the next 30 days”, book a call with me and I can help:
Cheering for you,
– WYH