How Standing Firm Made Us an Extra $70,000 on a Wholesale Deal

[Jeremy Beland]

In the world of real estate wholesaling, there’s always a lesson to be learned. One of the most important is knowing when to stand firm and not let a buyer dictate the terms of your deal—especially when you know you have a good one on your hands. Let me share a recent experience from the fall of 2023 that proves this point.

We had an off-market single-family property under contract in Massachusetts. Everything was moving smoothly as we marketed the deal to our buyer list. After some negotiation, we assigned the property to a buyer for a $35,000 assignment fee—about average for our business. It was set to be a great deal.

But, as often happens in real estate, complications arose. There was an issue with probate that needed to be resolved, which caused a significant delay. What was supposed to be a relatively quick process ended up stretching throughout the entire winter. Meanwhile, the buyer remained patient, saying he was willing to wait. We were hopeful everything would resolve itself.

Finally, in March of 2024, we got the green light. The probate was cleared, and we were ready to close. Excited to move forward, we reached out to the buyer to let him know the good news.

Here’s where things got tricky.

The buyer came back to us with a curveball. He claimed that the market had changed since the fall of 2023 and that he could no longer go through with the original deal unless we reduced the assignment fee by $15,000. His argument? The market wasn’t as strong as it had been when we first agreed to terms, and he needed the discount to make it work.

Now, I know my market. His claim was simply untrue. In fact, the market had improved by the spring of 2024. But he was trying to pull a classic move—waiting until the last moment to pressure us into lowering our fee, thinking that we’d be desperate to close and agree to his terms.

But here’s the thing: We weren’t.

Instead of giving in to his renegotiation tactics, we told him no. We canceled the contract, returned his earnest money deposit, and put the property back on the market. We listed it on the MLS and marketed it to our cash buyers again.

The results? Massive interest. In just a week, we had multiple offers, all well over the original buyer’s price. To put it in perspective, we initially had the property under contract for around $145,000 and planned to assign it for $35,000. After canceling, we received offers above $200,000.The winning offer? $240,000, with a close in just 10 days.

In the end, we went from a potential $20,000 assignment (after the buyer’s renegotiation) to a whopping $90,000 assignment fee. That’s an extra $70,000, all because we didn’t settle for less and allowed the buyer to dictate the terms.

Key Takeaways:

• Don’t settle for less: Just because a buyer tries to leverage you into a lower fee doesn’t mean you have to accept. If you know you have a good deal, stand your ground.
• There are always more buyers: Don’t feel like you’re at the mercy of one buyer. Buyers are a dime a dozen, especially when you’re marketing a great deal. If one buyer doesn’t want to pay what it’s worth, someone else will.
• Know your market: If the market truly shifts and a buyer’s concerns are valid, it’s reasonable to adjust. But if a buyer is simply trying to squeeze you, trust your knowledge and move forward with confidence.

This deal turned out to be a home run for us. It’s a great reminder that staying firm on your terms can pay off big. Always keep in mind the value of your hard-earned contracts, and don’t let a buyer push you into a corner. It’s your deal—don’t let anyone else control it!

[Jay Hinrichs]

Quote from @Don Konipol:

@Jeremy Beland

Harry Helmsley (pre Leona) was famous for NEVER renegotiating a deal.  In fact, he carried it a couple of steps farther.  If his opposing principal backed out of a deal because they had received a better offer or any other reason not considered “legit” by Mr Helmsley he would NEVER do business with them again.  As Harry came to dominate a large segment of the NYC real property market, this became a serious costly mistake for those who Harry thought had not acted ethically. 
The second Helmsley “negotiating” technique was not to negotiate.  Whether buying or selling he named an offering price, and that was it.  No further price negotiation would take place.  One has to wonder how many properties Helmsley picked up under market value because people knew he offered one price - take it or leave it.  And how much time he DIDN’T waste on deals that Would never come to fruition. 

IN the NW we have a very large Eastern Europe population Russian and all the satellite states those guys are famous for the retrade day of closing or day before.. they do it mainly to owner occ's who have bought something else packed up their home etc etc..  They will just say Hey we need to lower the price 10k or you can keep our 1k EM.. So my Wife Lori has done business as a broker in that community for decades and knew the tricks so .. When we were selling any of our props if we felt we had one of those individuals ( most of my stuff was props  bought at courthouse and would sell as is) EM would be 5 to 10X higher other wise we would not take their offers.. So when and if they tried that stunt on us we just would keep the EM and resell.

but in practice those guys always closed we smoked them out day one. However other agents that simply were doing resi got stuck many times with this trick of the Eastern block investors.