How do I bring up a price adjustment with my seller?

Lay out the evidence first: showings, feedback, what went under contract, what closed, and time on the market against the review date you set together. Then ask where the seller thinks the market is telling you to be. Let them name it, then offer three paths: adjust the price, change the home or terms, or hold with a new date.

Drafted with AI by the 10before10 team, reviewed and approved by Grant Freer and Gia Freer, licensed Florida real estate brokers. Updated October 24, 2026. También en español.

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What is really being said

By the time a seller needs a price adjustment, the market has already spoken. Buyers walked through, compared the home to others, and chose something else, or chose nothing at all. The seller has not heard any of that directly.

They have heard silence, or polite showing feedback, or a string of "we're still deciding" messages that led nowhere.

So when an agent raises a price adjustment, what the seller often hears is a different message: that the home is worth less than they believed, that their decision to list at the original number was wrong, or that the agent is giving up on getting them a good number. None of that is what the agent means, and none of it has to be what the seller hears, if the evidence does the talking.

The seller is also protecting something real. A lower price can feel like a loss before it has even happened. Pride, a number they need to make the move work, or a memory of what a neighbor's house supposedly sold for, all of it sits underneath "let's wait a few more weeks."

Your job is not to argue the number. It is to put the same evidence the market already gave you in front of the seller, then ask them what they see in it.

What to say

These are examples in plain words, not lines to memorize.

"Since we set our review date, here's what's happened: we've had showings and this is the feedback word for word. Two homes nearby went under contract, and here's where they were priced. One closed, and here's what it sold for.

We're at number of days on market against the date we agreed to look again. Can I walk you through it?"

This works because it is a report, not an opinion. Dates, numbers of showings, feedback in the buyer's own words, and what happened to the competition. There is nothing in it to argue with, because none of it is your view.

"Having seen what sold, what's under contract, and what's still sitting like ours, where do you feel the market is telling us we need to be to get chosen over the others?"

This is the question that lets the seller discover the number instead of receiving it. A seller who names a figure themselves owns it. If you have already walked through pricing at the start, this moment is the same kind of conversation, now informed by weeks of real activity instead of comps alone.

"From here we've got three paths. We adjust the price. We change something about the home or the terms, like timing or what's included.

Or we hold where we are and set a new date to look again. Which feels right to you?"

Offering three paths, not one, keeps the seller deciding instead of defending. A seller who picks "hold" with a real date attached has still made a decision, and you have not had to talk anyone into anything.

"That cut feels big to you. What would feel like a number you could live with, and let's see what the feedback says about it?"

This answers the objection and asks the next question. It does not defend the number. It hands the seller a smaller, safer decision: naming a figure, rather than accepting or rejecting yours.

"I hear you on waiting. Let's set a short check-in instead of an open-ended wait, so we both know what we're watching for."

This answers the objection and asks for a small appointment: a specific date to look again. A seller who agrees to a date has agreed to revisit the question, which is most of the work.

"If we wait, here's what we'd be watching for: new listings that come on below us, and whether the next few showings bring any different feedback. Want me to send you that as it happens?"

This is the second route on "a few more weeks": instead of resisting the delay, you make the delay active. The seller is still gathering evidence, and you have not lost the thread.

"A credit toward the buyer's costs helps someone who is short at closing, and there are limits on how much is allowed. A price adjustment changes what the home looks like to everyone searching online before they call anyone. Which one matches what we're hearing in the feedback?"

This keeps the seller choosing between two real tools instead of treating the adjustment as the only option.

What not to do

Do not say "I told you so" in any form, even softened. The seller does not need to be reminded that the number was a stretch. The evidence makes the point without you saying it.

Do not blame the market in general terms like "it's just slow right now" unless the comps back it up specifically. A seller who hears a vague excuse stops trusting the specific numbers that follow.

Do not name a value of your own on the call. Stick to what sold, what is under contract, and what is active against your home, dates and all.

Do not offer to lower your own fee to match the seller's price change unprompted. If a seller raises it, answer plainly and keep the conversation on the number that gets the home chosen, not on what you are paid.

How to practice it

Have a colleague play a seller who has had six showings, no offers, and opens with "Every single showing we got great comments, so why isn't anyone actually putting in an offer?" Walk through the evidence in order: showings, feedback, competing listings, what closed, and days on market against your review date. Ask the self-discovery question before offering any of the three paths.

Run it five times, changing the seller's resistance each time: a big-cut objection, a few-more-weeks delay, a spouse who needs to be looped in, a seller anchored to what a relative's house supposedly sold for, and a seller who agrees at once and wants to go lower than the evidence suggests. Record yourself and listen for the moment you explain the number instead of asking the question. That is the habit 10before10™'s scorecard listens for on this drill.

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