Marie Schutt is the managing editor of Chicago Agent

All’s fair in love and war, but real estate negotiations are never that simple. Real estate is an emotional business, and when emotions are tied up in strategic decisions, there is a delicate balance that agents must maintain to avoid any misstep that could derail a deal.

A great deal of a real estate agent’s value to their clients lies in the ability to negotiate. In NAR’s 2016 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 13 percent of buyers said they wanted someone who could help them negotiate the terms of sale, and 12 percent wanted someone to help with price negotiations when they were looking for an agent to work with.

In our cover story, we’re exploring negotiation from a variety of angles and perspectives. We tackled the question of how agents can overcome a stalemate in their negotiations to save a deal, how agents should prepare their clients for the realities of negotiation, “unsportsmanlike” tactics to avoid, the results from our negotiation survey, and many other topics.

Comments? Questions? Concerns? Email me at marie@agentpublishing.com.