As a North Carolina real estate broker, your income is determined by your ability to close the deal. Therefore, negotiation skills are essential. To successfully master the art of real estate negotiations, you’ll want to find the most creative and powerful strategies available. To help you out, we’ve put together a list of the eight best negotiation books for real estate professionals.
Top 8 Books to Sharpen Your Negotiation Skills
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
By Chris Voss and Tahl Raz
Never Split the Difference is written by Chris Voss, a former international hostage negotiator for the FBI. The book takes you inside the world of high-stakes negotiations and into Voss’s head, revealing the skills that helped him succeed in saving lives. In this practical guide, he shares the nine effective principles that you, too, can use to become more persuasive in work and life.
Start With No! The Negotiating Tools the Pros Don’t Want You to Know
By Jim Camp
Start with No offers real estate agents a bold, counterintuitive approach to negotiation that challenges the popular “win-win” mindset. Rather than aiming for compromise, this system teaches agents how to stay in control by embracing the power of “no.”
Through decision-based negotiation, agents learn to manage emotions, avoid rushing to close, and focus on the actions they can control. By fostering a sense of security in the other party and avoiding neediness, agents can gain the upper hand. With techniques like setting clear agendas, asking the right questions, and understanding the four negotiation budgets—time, energy, money, and emotion—Start with No equips agents with the tools they need to confidently handle high-stakes deals, from property sales to personal transactions.
Ask for More: 10 Questions to Negotiate Anything
By Alexandra Carter
Ask for More shows that by asking better questions, you get better answers—and better results—from any negotiation. Many people shy away from negotiation, feeling defeated before they’ve even started. In this groundbreaking book, Alexandra Carter, Columbia law professor, and mediation expert, offers a straightforward and accessible approach anyone can use to ask for and get more.
FREE GUIDE: Learn how to earn 5% more for every listing with this simple and easy-to-follow guide.
Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
By Roger Fisher
Since its original publication nearly thirty years ago, Getting to Yes has helped millions of people learn a better way to negotiate. It offers a proven, step-by-step strategy for coming to mutually acceptable agreements in all types of conflicts. Thoroughly updated and revised, it offers a straightforward, universally applicable method for negotiating personal and professional disputes without getting angry—or getting taken.
Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People
By G. Richard Shell
Fully revised and updated in 2019, Bargaining for Advantage is the quintessential guide for learning to negotiate effectively in every part of your life. In this internationally acclaimed book, professor G. Richard Shell offers a systematic, step-by-step approach built around negotiating effectively as who you are, not who you think you need to be. Shell combines lively stories about world-class negotiators from J. P. Morgan to Mahatma Gandhi with proven bargaining advice based on the latest research into negotiation and neuroscience.
Want more book recommendations? Check out our post: Best Books for New Real Estate Brokers.
Master of The Arts: The Negotiation Guru, 19 Days to Learn the Art of the Deal
By Dr. Beau Young
Do you struggle with negotiating, either by compromising too easily or being too tough to close great deals? This book will help you overcome your negotiation fears and challenges with practical, easy-to-apply strategies. You’ll learn the five critical steps to take before entering a negotiation, discover a powerful but often overlooked silent weapon, and master effective bargaining tactics. The book also reveals why the negotiation doesn’t end when the deal closes, how to handle powerful people, and dangerous tricks to watch out for. With clear guidance on the language to avoid and tips to navigate any negotiation, even beginners with no prior business experience can transform into skilled negotiators and achieve significant success.
The Negotiation Book: Your Definitive Guide to Successful Negotiating
By Steve Gates
Revised and updated, the second edition of The Negotiation Book will teach you about one of the most important skills in business. Every time you negotiate, you are looking for an increased advantage. This book delivers it, while also ensuring the other party also comes away feeling good about the deal. The Negotiation Book teaches you how to conduct successful win-win negotiations.
The Book on Negotiating Real Estate: Expert Strategies for Getting the Best Deals When Buying & Selling Investment Property
By J. Scott, Mark Ferguson, and Carol Scott
In this book, three expert investors and bestselling authors show you how to get the most―and the best―deals on your investment property. With more than 1,000 successful real estate deals between them, the authors combine the science of negotiation with real-world experience to dive into all aspects of the real estate negotiation process. From the first interaction with a buyer or seller, to renegotiating the contract, to last-minute concessions at closing, you’ll learn everything you need to reach optimal agreements every time.
These are the best negotiation books on the market. However, the best way to become a better negotiator is to earn a certification through the Real Estate Negotiation Institute (RENI). RENI offers two certifications: Certified Negotiation Expert and Certified Buyer Agent Expert. Both are taught by industry experts who will give you real-life examples and strategies to help improve your skills.
