Now here’s the part that really gets people shook, the true headache of selling real estate. You’re a shark now. Your mere presence intimidates.

Sometimes all you have to do is swim by. The fish scatter. The seals find the nearest rock. The bathers flee for their lives. If they stay in the water, they’re constantly checking around, unsure what to do: all because you came and went. They may come running after you, begging for you back and meeting your terms, but it may not matter to you anymore. They’re not ripe enough to eat. This is a superpower. This is the walk-away.

In order to be in full control of your movements and emotions, you need to be prepared to leave the deal and move on. Why would you do that?

First off, you don’t sweat one deal. It’s not going to make or break you. There’s many fish to swallow and there are many reasons why negotiations crash. So, why pull the walk-away? The contingencies were not met. The inspection report triggered a drop in offer. One of the other parties wants to lengthen or shorten time frames, and on and on it goes.

Don’t assume anything in negotiation. Always ask pointed questions, especially when someone is hard-balling you, acting the jerk, or is unforthcoming. Try to get to the bottom of any statements that ring false or contradict what you know. Business isn’t personal. It’s a transaction, and you can do it rough and stupid or play it like a true professional, smooth and in control of your game.

The science of a deal is in the numbers, the art in how you manage yourself, your clients, and your opponents. If you are relaxed, know your facts and approach the negotiation with a win-win (integrative bargaining) attitude, you’ll get where you want to go, deal-wise. No doubt. So, what in God’s name would ever make you walk away from a table you need to sit at?

For some buyers, their agent hasn’t helped them jump from System 1 to System 2 thinking at the right time. The client’s “love at first sight” feelings have come and gone, the honeymoon over, and they are no longer sure of the house. They haven’t applied any critical thinking to the buy. They’re lost, stuck, overwhelmed, and adrift. They second-guess themselves and pull the offer. Maybe their agent didn’t hold their hand during the shift to rational thinking earlier in the work phase, the way you now know how – the “Hollywood” way.

But most often, the walk-away is a break between a buyer and antagonistic seller. The inspections come in. The seller minimizes the buyer’s concerns, the old “It’s never been a problem before. We’re not going to pay for that.” The request for fixes spooks them and the deal breaks. They refuse to negotiate. You give it your best, and then you walk. Now, they’re screwed.

Strangely, more real estate deals are terminated over aggressive, angry behavior than lying outright or by omission. People almost expect lies, thinking others are always trying to get over on them. Like I said, people get weird. Hostility, however, is a consistent deal-breaker in real estate. That’s the positive and negative charge again.

You repel people with anger and attract with cool, calm, confidence and optimism, ready to negotiate a good deal for all with an upbeat mood. You came to close and that means to make everyone happy. When people get shook, making people happy can be impossible to do. You try to chill them out with your many tactics, your give to get, but if they can’t get control, you’ll always face resistance.

Now, as for points of no return, every journey has one, a point at which, if you continue, you cannot turn back without supplies running out. For Lewis and Clarke, it was the Salmon River. They mapped it out beforehand and knew that if they crossed it, they were cut off from home. A deal is the same way.

You’re ready for the game, for the battle. You know the field. You know the players. You know the clock. You have a goal. You have a playbook, a narrative, a plan all mapped out to achieve your goals with and for your client. Part of that map should show the walk-away as the far boundaries of your deal. So what is it for you, what’s your Salmon River?

It should be the number, the walk-away point, where the deal is no longer beneficial to your client. Know that number, your boundary. Walk into every negotiation with that number in mind. What are your key contract points?

Say your buyer is in a time-sensitive position. They need to move for a job or kids and now the seller wants another 30 days. Is that a walk-away? Is it on to the BANTA, the next house? You and the client should work through your offer parameters beforehand. Communicate. Hash it out. Be completely clear on the points you can let go of and what you must have. In the spirit of win-win, you should be able to get there. We all know, however, sometimes that mountain is just too high.

My first walk-away was hard because the money was so big. The second I announced I was walking, I felt a massive rush of satisfaction and calm. The developer was a constant problem. Matt and I did the listing meeting and perhaps we were a little too persuasive. As we did our due diligence on the guy, he’s pounding our phones every hour of the night and day. “What about this? What do you think of that?”

Suddenly it hits us. This guy sucks so much air out of the room he could kill our business. Not literally, but I’ve got 40 other listings on my desk at the moment so why would I do this? The answer is I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. So, I didn’t. Early in our career when we needed money, maybe, but now, why do it to ourselves. He also had so many emotional needs it would have killed Matt, the hand-holder. I can’t lose Matt.

The house has still not sold over a year later. This guy’s infectious. Oh yeah, by the way, it was an $62 million listing.

There’s this one agent in LA, Matt and I call him “Magoo” because he’s like some cartoon character that blows up no matter what you say. We take bets on how long we can go without making him angry. I owe Matt $20 for the last meeting; the guy lost it 17 seconds in. He takes everything so personally it’s a mental health issue. He’s harmless, but we always walk. By the time you say something and peel him off the ceiling, it’s taken double the time to settle an issue.

Time is that thing we don’t have much of. The shot clock’s ticking. When we’re flowing, it’s a rhythm we don’t want to disrupt. Our value is our talent, our experience, and our energized hustle. We protect it because if we can’t function at 120%, our goals suffer. We wouldn’t rise above the rest as we have been.

If you are contemplating a walk-away, factor in its affect on your relationship with everyone involved. Who are the people across the table? What do they mean to you? If you do not reach agreement, will the relationship be harmed? Are these businesspeople who understand it’s not personal, or are they over-invested sellers insisting on the illogical and the impossible? If you walk-away, will you threaten any deals in the immediate future? The long term? How are you going to feel about yourself?

If you walk, be prepared to reset your strategy and re-launch the listing. Since all of this took you away from the market, you need to climb atop real estate time and move fast here. You need to prep all for battle on double-time. It’s another reason we take such detailed notes during the work phase. We might need those notes for the walk-away. There’s so much leverage in the details; knowing you have it makes the negotiation and the walk-away so much easier.

How to Walk Away

The thing about the walk-away is how you do it. How you walk matters more than if you walk. There isn’t a deal in the world that can’t be rebuilt somewhere else. Part of a successful professional life is delivering difficult news like a grown-up, a pro. If you are going to walk, explain your position, thank everybody, and tell them you look forward to working with them in the future – then go. It’s much easier earlier in the process than later, so pull out as soon as you know it will not work.

The goal is to allow all parties to face each other again without a grudge, no drama, no beef. It’s business. It happens. You’re proud of how you handled yourself. If they can’t get over it, that’s on them. You’ll work with someone else. Otherwise, it’s a new day, a new deal. Let’s make it work.

As agents, we usually have to work with each other again and again and again, so it benefits us to keep it cool, respectful, and professional. We’re always watching the clock and the walk-away devours time. We don’t want to walk away, but when it’s necessary, you have to. Beyond price and terms, an overly difficult client or counterpart sucks days from the calendar. We can’t afford that.

We may outlast most in our efforts, but there comes a time to cut losses before more time gets cut. Sure, some clients need more hand holding than others, but only you can decide when it is having a negative impact on your other clients. Don’t spend so much time on one deal that you lose the next. Your work piles up as you feed a client’s insecurities and boom! Opportunity passes you by.

If you want to close it like an Altman, build the walk-away into your strategy. It’s fail-safe, not a go to, but if you get there, you have it. If you run passive and active opens constantly, you cannot afford to be taken off the line for one deal. You have other clients and other commitments. If you are like me, you have employees. Interrupt the circle at any point, it starts to wobble and you’ll need a massive correction that will kick your ass. Get tangled up with a deal for too long and you might have to close two or three quickly to make up for the lost selling time.

Our motto is to not quit, to stay in the game, but those are games worth playing. Know the difference. In caring for a client, don’t forget to take care of you; keep your paydays coming. A major factor of the walk-away is a strategy to restart the work phase. If you’ve worked the Altman Close, you have the notes and know the people you can go back to ASAP. The sooner you get the energy going around a listing, the faster you’ll restart after a walk-away.

Again, it’s business and you should view the walk-away not as failure, but a reset. It’s a tool, so use it if you need it. To be effective in the marketplace, or life for that matter, you’ve got to shake it off. It’s just a part of the process. You can’t sweat every deal. You’re a baller. You don’t need to.

After the walk-away and your analysis, repair anything that needs repairing, if you can. Fix it. Keep in good graces. Depending on the circumstances, and I don’t do this for jerks, I wait for some time to pass and then give the other agent a call. The tone is loose and friendly and I invite them out for a meal or drinks. We can talk it out if we need to, keeping a bridge from going up in flames.

Humor is always a great healer. One agent was eating Fritos when I gave her the walk-away news so I sent a case of snack packs with a note “Here’s to hoping it will never happen again.” She immediately called laughing and we co-listed a great house in the hills together.

The walk-away is the most important part of the Altman Close. Without it, you are working without a safety net. If you fail to reconcile a buyer and seller, you fall through the floor, taking a horrible deal that diminishes you professionally and financially.

The walk-away protects you, your client, and your ability to make a deal, the real estate trinity you must keep in balance to be the most effective professional possible. You’re a closer. Recognize what you can’t close or what will take away from your other close. Try to make it work, but before you get to deep, pull the walk-away. Keep swimming.

Now, remember you’re a killer, a beast, a shark. You don’t clench up when you spot the walk-away. Its urgency has forced some awesome deals in my office. You have to get creative. You have to adjust, adapt, and overcome. Open. Work. Close. You’ve set up for this. Your playbook is already full of what you need.

Just thinking about the walk-away blows some agent’s minds. How can you work on something for so long and then wreck it in an instant? Easy, I say, if you must. Experienced agents know they have the goods to remake the deal. There’s calculated confidence. Communication is key. It is your go-to position with all clients. I never had a client tell me I called too much.

If it means calling a client with bad news, do it. Build something positive. Have a BANTA, something to offer. Have options. If you don’t, you lose time and will be further off your game, under the shot clock. It’s not life or death for you but it is for your business. Every time you talk about a listing to anyone, make detailed notes, track the information and refer back to it constantly. Know it. These are the “facts” of your deal. Everybody who loved the house, didn’t love the house, felt it was too small, felt it was too big. Sit down with your client. Analyze, strategize. Open, work, close. Find the fix. It’s there. You’re a ninja. You’ve set up for it. You’re ready.