How the Lisa Sevajian Group approaches negotiation — not as a confrontation after the offer arrives, but as an outcome engineered before the first buyer walks through the door.
Three offers came in on a Thursday evening. The seller — a composite of many I have worked with — was sitting at the kitchen table with her phone, refreshing her email, watching the numbers arrive. One was above asking. One matched it. One came in lower but had no financing contingency and a flexible closing date. She asked me which one to take.
The price on the offer sheet is rarely the whole story. What the number at the top actually means depends on the contingencies beneath it, the strength of the financing, the buyer's track record in prior transactions, and whether the terms protect the seller through every stage from offer to closing. I have seen the highest offer become the worst transaction. I have seen the second-best number, with clean terms and a pre-approved buyer, produce an outcome the seller was genuinely grateful for two months later.
Real negotiating power for a home seller is not created at the moment the offers arrive. It is created weeks earlier — in the pricing decision, in the marketing structure, in the way the launch is designed to generate competing demand rather than a single offer in a vacuum. By the time you are reviewing bids at the kitchen table, the most important negotiation decisions have already been made, in your favor or against you, depending on the work that preceded them. I have been running these transactions since 2007, approaching 2,000 sales across Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The approach that produces the best outcomes for sellers is not aggressive. It is prepared.
Here is what that preparation actually looks like, from first conversation to signed Purchase and Sale Agreement.
Smart negotiation is a phrase that gets used loosely. In most real estate conversations, "negotiation" is treated as a confrontation — a back-and-forth after an offer arrives where the goal is to push the buyer toward a higher number or fewer concessions. That framing misses what negotiation actually is in a well-run transaction.
Real negotiating power for a home seller is not created at the negotiating table. It is created weeks earlier, when the pricing decision is made, when the marketing plan is built, and when the launch is structured to reach the maximum number of qualified buyers who are in the market simultaneously. By the time the first offer arrives, the most important negotiation decisions have already been made — in your favor or against you, depending on the work that preceded them.
Smart negotiation is also, explicitly, not aggressive negotiation. Aggression in a real estate transaction produces specific, predictable outcomes: buyers walk, transactions fall apart after inspection, attorneys get involved in disputes that never needed to happen. A skilled agent on the buyer's side can systematically reduce what their client pays. A skilled agent on the seller's side can protect — or enhance — what their client receives. Neither of these outcomes requires confrontation. They require preparation, clear positioning, and clear-eyed decision-making at every step.
At the Lisa Sevajian Group, we have been in business since 2007. Approaching 2,000 sales across Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The approach we use is built on what actually produces the best outcomes for sellers: creating the conditions for smart negotiation before the offer arrives, then executing each stage of the transaction from a position of informed, prepared strength.
The pre-negotiation phase is the most important part of the entire process, and it is the part most sellers never see. By the time you are reviewing an offer at the kitchen table, the work that determines your negotiating position is already done — or it is not.
The list price is not just a number — it is a signal to every buyer in the market about the type of transaction they are entering. A home priced at Energy pricing (slightly below recent comparables) signals scarcity and creates urgency. A well-calibrated Market-Based price signals accuracy and confidence. Both create a context in which the seller is in control of the conversation.
The wrong pricing decision — whether too high or set without a clear strategic rationale — creates the opposite context. An overpriced home sits. Days on market accumulate. Buyers begin to ask what is wrong with it. Any market adjustment after launch signals to every buyer that the original price was not supported. When an offer finally comes, it comes from a buyer who believes the seller is motivated, the listing is stale, and there is room to negotiate down. That is the most difficult negotiating position a seller can be in.
Demand engineering is the practice of structuring the marketing launch to reach the maximum number of qualified buyers encountering the home simultaneously, rather than sequentially. Sequential buyers give you sequential offers. Simultaneous buyers give you competing offers.
The practical elements are specific. Professional photography and video must be ready before the listing goes live — not after. Targeted digital outreach to buyers who are actively searching in that price range and town must begin in the pre-market window, so that buyer agents have already identified the home as a match for their clients before it hits the MLS. The showing window is structured — typically Thursday through Sunday of the first weekend — to concentrate traffic and create a clear offer deadline rather than letting offers trickle in over weeks.
When demand engineering works, the negotiation that follows is a choice between competing strong offers. That is the position every seller should be in. The LSG selling protocol is designed specifically to produce that outcome — and it delivers an average of 6 days before our clients happily accept an offer because of how deliberately that pre-offer phase is structured.
The LSG selling protocol delivers an average of 6 days before our clients happily accept an offer. The protocol is not just about speed — it is about the competitive demand conditions that give sellers the strongest possible negotiating position at every stage. See the full seller process.
A multi-offer situation is one of the most valuable outcomes a seller can achieve — and one of the most easily misread. The instinct is to focus on the highest number. That instinct is usually right, but not always, and acting on it without understanding the full offer is one of the most common ways sellers leave money on the table or end up in a failed transaction.
When LSG reviews a set of competing offers with a seller, we evaluate each offer across six dimensions:
The stated offer price is the starting point, not the end point. Any seller credit requested at signing — for closing costs, for pre-agreed repairs, or for concessions built into the offer structure — reduces the net. Two offers at the same number with different credit requests are not the same offer. We calculate net proceeds on each offer before presenting the comparison.
Cash offers eliminate financing risk and typically shorten the transaction timeline. Conventional financing with a large down payment (20% or more) typically carries lower appraisal and financing risk than a high loan-to-value conventional or FHA offer. A Bright MLS study of 442,829 transactions found that homes marketed on the MLS with the full buyer pool available — conventional, FHA, VA, and cash — achieved a median 16.98% premium over comparable off-MLS sales. Maximizing the buyer pool means being prepared to evaluate all financing types accurately.
Pre-approval quality matters. A buyer who has been pre-approved by a direct lender with an underwritten pre-approval is meaningfully less likely to experience a financing failure than a buyer with a soft pre-qualification from an online lender. We ask buyer agents for the name of the lender and the type of approval. That is a standard, reasonable question and a buyer's agent who cannot answer it is a yellow flag.
Every contingency in an offer is a potential exit ramp for the buyer. Fewer contingencies, or contingencies with shorter windows, reduce the seller's exposure to a sale falling apart after they have taken the home off the market. We discuss contingency strategy in detail in a later section.
The closing date in an offer is a negotiating point. A buyer who needs 60 days to close because of their own relocation timeline may be offering a date that is materially inconvenient for a seller who needs 30 days. In a competitive market, sellers can and should negotiate the closing date as part of their offer response, particularly when multiple offers are on the table.
Escalation clauses require a separate, careful review — addressed in the next section.
The highest offer with the weakest buyer is sometimes worse for the seller than a slightly lower offer from a buyer who will close with certainty. A seller who accepts a strong offer and then watches it collapse in the financing contingency window has lost two to four weeks of market momentum — time during which other qualified buyers found other homes. Transaction certainty is a real variable in offer evaluation and one that is routinely underweighted by sellers focused only on the top-line price.
An escalation clause is a provision included in a buyer's purchase offer that automatically increases their bid in defined increments above any competing offer, up to a stated maximum cap. They are common in competitive Massachusetts and New Hampshire markets, particularly in high-demand towns where multiple offers on desirable properties are routine.
Here is the structure: a buyer offers $650,000 with an escalation clause that says they will beat any competing bona fide offer by $5,000 increments up to a maximum of $685,000. If a competing offer comes in at $660,000, the escalation clause activates and the buyer's effective offer becomes $665,000. If no competing offer meets the escalation threshold, the buyer purchases at their original $650,000.
Escalation clauses reveal the buyer's ceiling. In a multi-offer situation without escalation clauses, each buyer submits their best number blindly. Some buyers leave money on the table because they submit a strong offer but not their true maximum. A buyer with an escalation clause is telling you, in writing, exactly how far they will go. That information benefits the seller.
Escalation clauses also reduce the risk of a seller's counteroffer going back and forth too many times and cooling buyer enthusiasm. The automatic mechanism handles the increment negotiation without requiring a sequential counter-offer cycle.
Before a seller accepts or responds to an escalation clause offer, LSG reviews three specific elements:
In Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the standard residential purchase offer includes three primary contingencies: the inspection contingency, the financing contingency, and the appraisal contingency. Each one gives the buyer a defined period and a defined basis to exit the transaction or renegotiate the terms. Sellers need to understand what each contingency actually risks — not just what it says.
The inspection contingency gives the buyer the right to conduct a professional home inspection and, within the defined window (standard in Massachusetts is 10 business days), to request repairs, a credit, or exit the contract if significant issues are found. It is the contingency sellers are most likely to interact with, because almost every conventional offer includes one.
In a competitive multi-offer market, some buyers waive the inspection contingency entirely or replace it with a "right to inspect, not to negotiate" clause — meaning they can inspect for informational purposes but cannot use the inspection as a basis for renegotiating terms. Sellers should welcome the waiver of an inspection contingency when the buyer is well-qualified and the offer price reflects the home's condition accurately. However, sellers should not feel that an inspection contingency is inherently unfavorable. A buyer who inspects and finds nothing significant is a better outcome than a buyer who waives inspection and later discovers a material issue that creates post-closing liability or dispute.
The financing contingency protects the buyer if their mortgage is not approved by the deadline specified in the offer, typically 21 to 30 days from acceptance. If financing falls through within the contingency window, the buyer can exit and recover their deposit. After the financing contingency expires, the buyer's deposit is at risk if they walk.
Sellers in strong markets can negotiate shorter financing contingency windows — down from 30 days to 21 or even 14 days — when the buyer has a strong pre-approval. On cash offers, the financing contingency is eliminated entirely. On offers with larger down payments (30% or more), the financing risk is materially lower, and sellers may be willing to accept a slightly lower price in exchange for that reduced risk.
A buyer who has been fully underwritten — meaning the lender has already reviewed income, assets, credit, and employment — carries significantly less financing risk than a buyer with a pre-qualification letter. Asking buyer agents to clarify the approval type is always appropriate.
The appraisal contingency protects the buyer if the lender's appraisal comes in below the contract price. If the property appraises below the offer price, the buyer can renegotiate or exit within the contingency terms. For sellers who have accepted an Energy or Aspirational price above recent comparable sales, the appraisal contingency is the most important one to understand.
Cash buyers have no appraisal contingency because they have no lender requiring one. Buyers with large down payments may waive the appraisal contingency, accepting the risk that the property does not appraise and they will need to cover the gap. Sellers who receive above-asking offers should confirm whether the appraisal contingency has been waived or modified before celebrating a high number — an offer $30,000 above asking with a standard appraisal contingency is a different instrument than an offer $30,000 above asking with the appraisal contingency waived.
The Purchase and Sale Agreement is the binding legal document that governs the residential home sale transaction in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. It is signed by both buyer and seller after the initial offer is accepted, typically within 10 to 14 days of offer acceptance, and it supersedes the original offer in most respects. What it says — and what it is carefully drafted to say — determines the final outcome of the transaction.
Most sellers treat the Purchase and Sale Agreement as a formality. The offer was accepted, the price is set, and now it is just paperwork. That belief is one of the most expensive mistakes in residential real estate.
The Purchase and Sale Agreement is where:
Buyer-side attorneys in Massachusetts and New Hampshire routinely submit Purchase and Sale Agreement drafts that include language favorable to the buyer — extended contingency windows, broader inspection rights, vague condition-at-closing language, or credits that were not in the original offer. A seller who reviews and signs the first draft without pushing back on these terms has effectively renegotiated away some of the value they locked in at the offer stage.
LSG works with our sellers to review every Purchase and Sale Agreement draft carefully, line by line, before it is signed. We identify provisions that differ from the accepted offer terms, provisions that are standard but should be understood, and provisions that are non-standard and require a response. We also ensure that any post-inspection agreements are properly incorporated into the Purchase and Sale Agreement or documented in an addendum — verbal agreements about repairs or credits do not close.
The closing date in the Purchase and Sale Agreement has legal significance in Massachusetts and New Hampshire that many sellers do not fully understand. If the buyer cannot close on the scheduled date, the seller has the right to give a written Time Is Of The Essence notice — which means that if the buyer fails to close within the specified grace period after that notice, they are in default and their deposit is at risk. Understanding when and how to use that provision is part of smart negotiation in the final stage of the transaction.
Post-inspection negotiation is where the most emotionally charged moments of any residential transaction occur — and where a seller's standing can erode quickly if the response is not calibrated correctly.
The inspection period in Massachusetts and New Hampshire exists to give buyers information, not to give them a mechanism to renegotiate the price they agreed to pay. In practice, buyers routinely use inspection findings — some legitimate, some exaggerated, some entirely cosmetic — as a basis for requesting concessions after a price has been agreed upon. Understanding the difference between a legitimate finding and a negotiating tactic is critical to protecting the seller's position.
When a buyer submits a post-inspection request, LSG reviews the full inspection report — not just the buyer's summary of what they want addressed. We categorize findings into three groups:
Our recommendation to sellers is almost always to respond to legitimate material defect findings with a credit rather than agreeing to repair work. A credit for a specific dollar amount keeps the seller in control of the cost, eliminates the risk of repair disputes at closing, and avoids the situation of contractors working in an occupied home during the transaction period. A buyer who has already committed to the purchase — who has spent money on the inspection, has given notice to their landlord, has started packing — is not going to walk over a credit that reflects the actual cost of the issue.
Sellers who have priced their home accurately, disclosed known issues, and received a competitive offer are in the strongest possible position to hold the line on post-inspection requests that do not reflect legitimate material defects. A seller who accepted an Energy price and has three competing buyers in the background — even if only one offer is currently in contract — holds a far stronger position than a seller who accepted a Market-Based offer from the only buyer who showed interest in three weeks.
The market context at the time of the inspection matters. In a hot market with low inventory, a buyer who exits over a $2,000 maintenance credit request is giving up a home they will likely not be able to replace quickly. In a softer market, the calculus is different. Smart negotiation means knowing which market you are in and responding accordingly — not applying the same posture to every transaction regardless of conditions.
Post-inspection negotiation is not about winning. A seller who walks away from a transaction over a $1,500 credit on a $650,000 home has made a $650,000 mistake. The goal is a closed transaction at a price and on terms that reflect the home's real value — with a buyer who can perform. Every decision in the post-inspection phase should be evaluated against that goal.
Smart negotiation means structuring the sale so that you arrive at the negotiating table from the strongest possible position — through pricing strategy, marketing, and demand engineering — and then using that standing to secure the best price and terms while keeping the transaction on track. It is the opposite of reactive negotiation, where you wait for an offer and then try to extract more through confrontation. Smart negotiation builds the outcome before the offer arrives.
LSG builds your position before the offer arrives through three mechanisms: pricing strategy calibrated to the specific market (Energy, Market-Based, or Aspirational), a marketing launch designed to reach the maximum qualified buyer pool simultaneously, and a structured showing and offer-review window that creates perceived scarcity. By the time the first offer arrives, we have already built the conditions for the seller to negotiate from strength.
In a multi-offer situation, price is one variable — but rarely the only one that matters. LSG evaluates offer price, financing type (cash versus conventional versus FHA or VA), contingencies included, proposed closing date alignment with the seller's timeline, escalation clause structure, and buyer qualification strength. The highest number with a weak buyer or aggressive contingencies may be worse for the seller than a slightly lower number from a pre-approved, well-qualified buyer.
An escalation clause is a provision in a buyer's offer that automatically increases their bid in set increments above any competing offer, up to a stated maximum. Sellers should generally welcome escalation clauses in multi-offer situations because they reveal the buyer's true ceiling. However, sellers need to review the increment, the cap, and the competing-offer verification requirement carefully. LSG reviews all escalation structures before a seller responds.
In a competitive market in Massachusetts or New Hampshire, sellers can often negotiate to waive or shorten the financing contingency on strong pre-approved buyers, waive the appraisal contingency on cash offers or offers with large down payments, and shorten the inspection contingency window from the standard 10 days. The right approach depends on the buyer's profile and the number of competing offers. LSG advises sellers on which contingencies represent real risk versus ones that give buyers an unearned edge.
Most sellers treat the Purchase and Sale Agreement as a formality after the offer is accepted — but it is where many transactions are actually won or lost. The Purchase and Sale Agreement locks in the final price, the contingency deadlines, the closing date, and any credits or repairs negotiated after inspection. Sellers who are not actively represented through the Purchase and Sale Agreement process often find that terms shift in the buyer's favor during the drafting process.
Post-inspection negotiation requires knowing the difference between a legitimate finding and a buyer testing the seller's resolve. LSG reviews every inspection report before a client responds, categorizes findings by severity and likely repair cost, and advises on whether to offer a credit, address the item, or hold the line. In most cases, a targeted credit for significant items is preferable to agreeing to repair work — it keeps the seller in control of cost and timeline.
The LSG selling protocol is a structured pre-launch and launch process that delivers an average of 6 days before our clients happily accept an offer. The protocol is directly connected to negotiation outcomes because it builds the competitive demand conditions that give sellers a clear advantage — rather than asking sellers to negotiate from a weak position after a slow launch. When the protocol works correctly, negotiation is a structured decision between strong offers, not a defense against a single low bid.
Client reviews
"Lisa and her team are incredible. They are extremely responsive throughout the process and helped us walk through potential properties to find an absolute dream home. Lisa is an expert negotiator and we were able to get everything that we wanted."
Kevin Liu
Bought a home in Georgetown, MA · May 2024 · Read on Zillow
"Lisa exceeded every expectation I had as a realtor. She listened to me and understood what I needed in this home sale, and created a pricing and marketing strategy to meet our family's needs. She took our home from listed to a signed Purchase and Sale quickly."
Elizabeth Reifsnyder
Sold a home in Andover, MA · June 2018 · Read on Zillow
"Calling Lisa to sell our house was the best decision we made. Her expertise and passion for her work is apparent. Because of her superb marketing abilities and enthusiasm, we had an offer on our antique house quickly and for a strong price."
Leeann Stella
Sold a home in Wilmington, MA · August 2019 · Read on Zillow
"My husband and I just purchased our first house and used Lisa as our agent. It was a long journey finding our perfect home since we were willing to wait for the right place, and Lisa was incredibly knowledgeable and patient throughout the entire process."
Katelyn B.
Bought a home in Newburyport, MA · July 2019 · Read on Zillow
Liza
Andover, MA · June 2018 · Read on Realtor.com
Smart negotiation starts with the right preparation. Let's build the strategy together — before the first buyer walks through the door.