Suze Cumming, founder of The Nature of Real Estate and Canada’s Real Estate Negotiation guru, answers Realtors’ questions on the first Friday of the month about negotiation tactics and working through tricky situations. Have a question for Suze? Send her an email.
An offer arrives significantly below asking. The buyer’s agent seems reluctant to cooperate, and your seller client, frustrated and defensive, refuses to entertain it.
The home has been on the market for over two months, your sellers urgently need to close on their next home within six weeks, and no other potential buyers are on the horizon.
What do you do next?
Every day, I speak with Realtors who are navigating precisely these moments. Instinctively, you might feel compelled to persuade or even push your seller into accepting reality. Yet this approach often escalates tension, damages trust and jeopardizes both the deal and your relationship. Navigating these complex situations effectively requires more than intuition — it demands Negotiation Intelligence.
Welcome to my column, Negotiation Intelligence, where on the first Friday of each month, I’ll answer your questions on how to tackle difficult scenarios like a pro and master the art of negotiation. You’ll find the answer to the question above in my next column on July 4.
A mission to elevate the skills and professionalism of our industry
What we do matters profoundly because when people make informed decisions about housing, their lives improve significantly. However, as technology continues to reshape how consumers access information and services, the agents who will thrive are those who master the uniquely human skills — negotiation, communication, and connection. These skills can’t be automated or replicated by AI, making them your most valuable professional assets in an evolving marketplace.
Many agents struggle with these sophisticated negotiation skills our clients deserve, not because they lack dedication, but because quality training in this critical area is scarce.
This skill gap risks increasing the trust deficit that consumers have for Realtors.
Did you know that a 2021 study by Re/Max Canada revealed over half of Canadians believe Realtor commissions are agents’ top priority, while 81 per cent indicated they would prefer working with a Realtor holding a certification demonstrating professionalism?
Consumer trust is essential for the long-term viability of organized real estate. Building professional trust is a key element to negotiation mastery and requires establishing trust of both the heart (be honest) and the head (be skilled).
Through this column, I’ll offer real-life case studies illuminated by practical negotiation theory. I aim to help you build deeper negotiation awareness, refine critical skills, and deliver stronger results for your clients and your business.
Extra support for the industry
My perspective comes from 40 years immersed in real estate — 22 as a top-producing agent in Toronto and then as founder of The Nature of Real Estate. I have worked with thousands of Canadian agents as the facilitator of the AREN and PREN negotiation certification courses and as a one-on-one consultant to top agents and team leaders across Canada.
I’m passionately dedicated to this industry, profoundly grateful for the life it has allowed me, and playfully refer to myself as the Modern Elder of Real Estate.
Over my decades in the industry, I’ve witnessed fundamental shifts. Brokerages once played a vital role in nurturing agents. Commission structures created both the incentive and the financial means to offer high-quality training. But today, commission splits favour agents, brokerage revenue has diminished, and essential services — especially high-quality training — have become underfunded.
Training responsibilities have largely shifted to governing bodies and outside organizations. While our boards, provincial associations, and CREA provide valuable instruction on contracts and regulations, they rarely offer guidance on the nuanced skills that define exceptional realtors. This leaves agents navigating a sea of coaching programs of variable credibility, many focused exclusively on lead generation and lacking meaningful skill development.
This gap means agents frequently struggle, even when leads are plentiful, because they lack the skills to connect and build the trust required to earn the right to represent them and to navigate increasingly complex negotiations.
What this column offers
Negotiation Intelligence is the single most valuable skill a realtor can develop. Negotiation is far more nuanced than simply haggling over price. It’s a sophisticated art involving numerous subtle interactions: convincing clients to choose you, resolving disagreements constructively, and skillfully navigating every stage of a transaction, from first conversations to managing conditions and closing.
Each…
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