Jeff Morr is a broker-associate with Douglas Elliman Real Estate working in Miami.

Every week, we ask a real estate professional for their Short List, a collection of tips and recommendations on an essential topic in real estate. This week, we talked with Jeff Morr, a broker-associate with Douglas Elliman Real Estate, who shared his strategies for working through difficult negotiations. 

9. Establish a relationship with your co-broker and work together

8. Communicate. Make sure to meet and stay in touch with everyone who’s involved in the deal.

7. Provide your clients with a package that includes comps, pending deals, active listings and any other information they might need or want.

6. Do your homework. Use facts to substantiate your position on why the client should take more or less

5. Go back and forth, even in small increments, until you can get your clients to meet.

4. Be very time sensitive. Some times you need to move quickly and sometimes you need to take a step back and give every one time to breathe and really evaluate how much they want to sell or purchase a property.

3. Appeal to your client’s common sense. Explain why a market is going in a certain direction, and how that will affect the property they’re buying or selling. In this market, a buyer may need to pay more than what comparable properties have sold at. Explain how inventory and trends can affect home prices.

2. When all else fails and you’re stuck, you might want to get your buyer and seller together for a meeting and try to get them to bridge the gap, and don’t cut your commission. Talk with the other agent prior to the meeting, and explain that you’re going to remain firm on your commission. Many agents are quick to adjust their commissions, and it’s really not necessary. What I tell my agents is, “you’re working for tips,” and I want them to reiterate that to the client. When you go in to a restaurant, you’re paying, on average, 20 percent commission – we work on six percent for a job well done. Help clients to understand that agents’ commissions really aren’t all that high, especially for the services we provide.

1. When you’re dealing with difficult clients, be patient and listen. A lot of times the person just likes to talk.

Jeff Morr brings over 25 years of real estate and design experience to the field, having ventured into the real estate world at the ripe old age of 21, bringing an education in Advertising and Marketing from Florida International University. Morr helped to reinvent the way South Florida real estate was designed, branded and sold, having introduced the “modern loft” concept in the late 1990’s, and having a strong part in reshaping the Miami skyline.