Why We Almost Got From $750k Cash Buyers

What I’m thinking: How advanced features require completely different negotiation rules and when to draw a line in the sand.

Our contract is to sell our 50 acre TX property for $750,000 in 30 days (purchased for $400,000). Should we feel relieved about the upcoming large cash injections?

Instead, I’m dealing with the most discerning buyers I’ve encountered over the years – we’re still not sure they’ll actually close before the funds reach our account.

This is not a desperate fire sale. We’ve written it Offer every 7-10 days Since its launch. Previous developers spent $50,000 on engineering research before walking because the property was too flat (…What?) for their plan.

Within a week of relisting, the cash buyer emerged, offering a $750,000 company.

While this is at the low end of what we hope to get the property, it starts getting longer and the hair is more than we expected when we purchased it, and the Kids Package Market (3 parcels at about 16.5 ac each) is actually not as robust.

So it makes sense to cash out and still get a good return.

The $350K profit transaction almost collapses

Buyers push us almost Everything in the contract:

• Agree to request an extension of the timeline after 30 days
• Questioning the practice of standard investigation
• Requires a minimum option fee ($100) for such a large purchase
• Lie the lender requests that require more time to close the request (I call their lender directly – confirm that 30 days is OK)

My agent wants to kick them out. I can’t blame him.

But this is the strategic reality: This is a premium deal of $750,000 Has high buyer interest, not a $200,000 flip. The rules change at this level.

I instruct our brokers to acknowledge on most secondary projects (for example, we will introduce “area shortage” in Title Co. Comments, up to a few hundred dollars).

After several days of people who continued to bend over for the buyer, they refuted us to our contract, saying the seller would pay a new investigation “if the title company has a problem.” We have spent $5,000 on the border survey over the past few months. They kept saying that they would also take at least 45 days to close.

Enough. I told our agent,

“Tell them without a doubt – if they don’t accept the risk of investigation, instead of being paid by the buyer, and don’t accept our 35-day final end timetable, we’ll walk.”

Stop all. Draw lines.

Fortunately, they realized we were serious and they signed the contract within 24 hours.

Why tough buyers push the push

Before signing the contract, they mentioned that we were asked to move the barbed wire fence to match the precise investigation boundary. We say they have to pay for it. They seemed to back off, so they never signed a contract.

Then there is their psychological power exertion: within a week of signing the contract, they are back:”We won’t close unless you handle the fence before, although we will close the fee.transparent

Zero logical meaning. We can connect them with reliable contractors, but why can’t we deal with this after the closure?

The psychological power game that changes everything

We can work with them, but the terms need to be strict:

• Contract price has been modified to reflect the cost of work (a quote of $4,750)
• If the buyer terminates, they will need to pay for the work.
• Crucially, the custody cost is $4,750 until we make payment to the contractor.
• The deadline is firm. If the work is not done before closing, another $1K EMD is needed to work hard to scale.

The funds must be in custody. When you know you won’t sue $5K, the legal language has nothing. Before agreeing to any terms, you must understand how you are willing to file a lawsuit.

Don’t have real teeth behind the language of contract? Create real financial consequences.

4 lessons in advanced property negotiation

1. Advanced assets should receive advanced treatment. When you get a weekly offer, you negotiate from strength to strength. Know your BATNA and your walking point (do you have one?).
2. Test buyers will resolve it as soon as possible. Difficult buyers will push until they push backwards. Drawing early lines reveals whether they are serious or only test boundaries. Before signing anything, figure out what is important and what is a minor.
3. Cover the teeth at a discount. If you know you won’t enforce it, then strict legal language doesn’t matter. Hosting accounts and hard deposits have real consequences.
4. Understand the cultural negotiation model. Obviously, this is a sensitive topic, certainly not a hard and fast rule, but in our experience, this particular buyer racial background tends to actively promote psychological victory, even if the demands have no logical meaning.

Recognizing that this pattern helps us react strategically and keeps us on toes and knows there are other shoes to fall off.

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PS My partner’s macro update in hedge funds at $200B: After months of caution and wild market volatility, they began to feel more optimistic and slowly opened up the trading process. At SLC, moods are definitely changing when we maintain our conservative approach. We are closely monitoring and feel much better than it would feel in early April 2025 (although it is above general housing corrections in most parts of the United States).