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When we sold our house ~6 months ago we had about 7 offers and we took a solid, but middle of the pack offer in terms of price. Their offer also had strong pre-approval and financial info and they were the fastest to respond when the house went on the market. This showed us they wanted our house in particular more than the other bidders, especially considering the pre-approval for their loan and their other financial details. They were still stretching a bit to buy the house, but they came through and closed in like 3.5 weeks on a jumbo loan. Did we leave a few dollars on the table? Probably. Were we happy with the outcome, yep :)



I used to negotiate really hard. Barely left a drop for the other side.

It's a losing strategy.

I found I was much better off if I could give the other side real wins.

Especially in repeated games.


Game theory says you are leaving something on the table when you do that. But we are all humans first and optimized game theory machines second :)


Game theory for repeated games actually says you want to seem like a fair or generous player so that the other side doesn't defect and keeps wanting to play the game with you.

Single-round best strategy is squeeze and defect.


Game theory is great for zero-sum situations. Most negotiations are not.


What do you think negotiation is?

Good negotiators find trades that are valuable for both sides of the table. That's how you negotiate well.




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