Avoiding this conversation is how listings expire.
When you’ve got a seller sitting at the wrong price, the instinct for a lot of agents is to wait it out and hope something changes.
Hope isn’t a strategy. Rates, inventory, and buyer psychology are not moving in a direction that bails you out if you’re overpriced.
This is the price adjustment framework we ran through in this week’s BAMx Role Play Mastermind. The language, the data, the objections, all of it.
Here’s everything you need to walk into that call ready.
The 10-10-0 Rule Sets Up the Conversation
A price adjustment conversation should never feel like it came out of left field. To make sure it doesn’t introduce the 10-10-0 rule at the listing presentation. That way, when the market speaks, you’re following through on a commitment.
Here’s what the 10-10-0 rule says:
- In the first 10 days, if there are 0 showings, we adjust the price
- In the first 10 showings, if there are 0 offers, we adjust the price
Showings won’t get you sold. The home is only worth as much as a buyer is willing to pay, and if ten buyers have walked through and none of them wrote anything, the market is telling you something.
When you get to the call, you re-anchor to what you both agreed to:
“As promised, quick update. We’re at [X] days on market, [Y] total showings, and so far the market has given us no written reaction. When we listed, we agreed on the 10-10-0 rule so we could make smart, unemotional decisions together. We’re at that point now.”
It puts you both on the same side of the table instead of negotiating against each other.
Get to the Point Fast
Don’t spend five minutes warming up a call you both know is about price. If you dance around it, the seller can feel the tension building, and by the time you get to the point they’re already defensive.
Open with alignment and get into it:
“Hey [Name], I want what you want: getting you sold and on to [their goal]. We’re on the same side here, and I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t share this with you.”
Calm tone, no apology for where things stand. You’re not sorry the market disagreed with the pricing. You’re there to fix it.
From there, you re-anchor the rule and move into the data.
Present the Data, Then Stop Talking
Know your numbers cold before you dial. This includes total showings, new pendings and closed deals since you listed, your days on market (DOM) versus average DOM, list-to-sale ratio in that price band, ShowingTime feedback, and online stats: Zillow saves, Realtor.com traffic, MLS reports.
When you present:
“Here’s what the market is saying right now. Since we listed, [#] homes like yours have gone pending or sold. Your average buyer in this range is seeing [comp addresses] and choosing those over us at this price. Feedback from showings: [top 2 themes]. Online activity: [Zillow saves, Realtor.com traffic, ShowingTime report].”
Then make the recommendation:
“It looks like we were optimistic on the price, and so far the market has disagreed. My recommendation is that we adjust the price to [number] so we move from being shopped to being chosen.”
And stop talking. The pause is the close. If you keep going, you’re negotiating against yourself.
When you make the recommendation, make a real one. Going from $800,000 to $789,000 is a move that signals hesitation to buyers without actually repositioning the home.
Real adjustments look like this:
- $800,000 to $750,000
- $700,000 to $625,000.
One more line worth having ready before you close:
“You’re much more likely to get a serious offer when you’re priced properly than a low offer when you’re priced too high. The goal is to make one smart price adjustment that gets the home sold so we’re not revisiting price every few weeks.”
One Real Adjustment vs. Revisiting This Every Few Weeks
Sellers who price for the market are the ones getting offers right now, while the ones waiting on a miracle or making $10,000 adjustments every few weeks are still sitting and wondering why their listing is going stale.
Buyers can see days on market (DOM). A listing that’s been sitting for 60 or 90 days with a history of small price cuts reads as a problem property whether it is one or not.
Fresh, attractively priced, and new to market is what gets attention. Stale is what gets lowball offers, if it gets offers at all.
This is where you come in. It’s why your seller has chosen to work with an agent rather than going the for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) route.
Close the adjustment call with motivation front and center:
“How are you feeling about making that price adjustment so we can avoid going stale and get you to [their goal] on time?”
That’s the whole call.
- Get the adjustment
- Update the MLS
- Follow up after the weekend with a fresh showing report
If you want to practice this conversation live before you have to have it for real, that’s exactly what we do in the BAMx Role Play Mastermind.
Sign up for a 7-day free trial at the Premium or VIP level and join us next Tuesday at 9:00 am Eastern Time.
