Poker and Real Estate Negotiations

Real Estate agents can learn through experience what typically works in negotiations. Even the best poker players agree that when they just meet a player, they can't really read them unless they make obvious moves. But to truly read them they need to play against them for awhile. Agents may know the other agent but in the end it is the client who makes the decisions and we most likely have never met the client or dealt with them.

I recently used a typical strategy for negotiations and it completely backfired. I have never seen that happen and my associates had not either. I was at a loss to explain why the other side had reacted that way. When we give advice, it is for the typical case. Actually it now reminds me of giving a weather forecast. 80% chance of agreement and 20% chance of storm.