Anyone who has purchased or sold a home will attest to how real estate negotiations can be a whole mix of emotion, timing, expertise, and human connection. This week on Gentle Power (YouTube | Spotify | Apple), we sat down with Victor Hsu, a New York-based real estate broker who specializes in helping families from abroad, primarily from China, navigate the US market. Victor works on everything from luxury townhouses to fast moving rentals.
One story he shared stood out and took Instagram by storm. It involved a historic Manhattan townhouse, a buyer who was brand new to the US, and a negotiation that concluded with a final number that was 30% below the listing price. The most interesting part was how the buyer approached the process, and how some of their instincts lined up almost perfectly with the same strategies we teach our clients.
The seller was a world-class violinist. Seven US presidents had eaten dinner in that home. Most buyers try to act coy and reserved in situations like that, but Victor’s client showed a ton of excitement from the first interaction. They kept coming back to see the place. They asked every question they could think of. And once the conversation shifted to price, the buyer made an initial offer of $6M on an $11.9M listing.
After six weeks of back and forth, the property closed $3M below the asking ask.
Here are some of the tactics that shaped the final outcome, and how they apply to job negotiations too:
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Enthusiasm from Day 1
A lot of buyers try to play it cool. They walk into a property acting like it’s “fine” or “not bad”, or don’t express overexcitement so they don’t lose leverage. But Victor’s client went the complete opposite direction: they expressed strong enthusiasm from the very start, and made it very clear to the seller how interested they were in this house specifically.
It worked. The seller stayed engaged through a low opening offer and weeks of counter-moves. This was an example of the “escalation of commitment” bias (aka sunk cost fallacy). It happens when someone becomes more invested in a situation simply because they’ve already put time, energy, and emotion into it.
In this case, the seller had spent weeks responding to Victor’s client, weighing their options, and imagining them as the future buyer. That early enthusiasm pulled the seller deeper into the process. Once people picture a certain outcome and start putting in effort, they tend to keep going, even through friction that would often push them away.
You see a similar dynamic in hiring: teams naturally want to keep talking to the candidates who feel most excited, and will try harder to make the deal work. Genuine interest can carry the conversation a lot farther than people expect, even through moments that could otherwise cause one party to walk away.
Negotiations start earlier than you realize
Most people think that negotiations begin when numbers enter the conversation, but every small touchpoint is a contributing factor. How you ask questions, how you follow up, how you frame what you’re looking for can all shape the other side’s sense of you.
The same pattern shows up in hiring (and many other places): tiny interactions can matter as much, and even sometimes more, than the big ones. Early signals set the emotional tone long before you get to the terms, and by the time compensation even comes up, people already have a sense of how generous or flexible they want to be.
“Making offers is how you get intel”
Victor paid close attention to everything he could learn from the deal itself: how long the home had been on the market, how far the price had dropped, how the seller reacted to small moves. You could feel the story of the listing, and the seller’s fatigue, in those details. Industry knowledge was definitely a factor, but the real leverage came from understanding what was happening in this exact moment with this exact seller.
The equivalent in offer negotiations: gather your own data points throughout the process by learning how long the role has been open, asking questions to understand the unique or pressing business needs the company has, and back-channeling with your contacts at the company to gather your own intel on the role.
Victor’s client also made offers on other properties. Doing so gave them immediate feedback on what similar sellers were doing right now, beyond whatever market research might say, and also relieved pressure on themselves. This holds true in job negotiations: having more than one option on the table (i.e. multiple job offers or interviewing at multiple companies) can strengthen your mindset and have you negotiate with more confidence.
All these little moves added up to an outcome no one would have predicted from the listing price, and we see the same dynamics all the time in hiring and business deals. Show enthusiasm, understand that every interaction contributes to the negotiation, tactfully dig for details beyond what’s at face value, and pursue multiple opportunities at once.
Learn more about Victor and his work here: Website | Instagram (@victorhsu.nyc)
Listen to the full episode here: YouTube | Spotify | Apple
Best,
Gerta & Alex
Co-founders, YourNegotiations.com
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