Handling objections is critical to successful selling. Since there are so many novice real estate agents out there, I have assembled, for their benefit, a short collection of possible objections, together with a choice of responses, based on what I understand are the industry-standard axioms.

1. Buyer: That’s a lot of money.
   Agent: It’s not just a [house|condo] it’s [a home|an investment for your retirement].
2. Buyer: What if I have to sell?
   Agent: a. You can’t lose in real estate. b. Real estate never goes down. c. They’re not making any more of it. d. The price is less than the last appraisal, so you have instant equity.
3. Buyer: That’s more than I can afford. I wouldn’t have enough money to live on.
   Agent: a. You can get a low rate and then refinance before the payment increases. b. You can take some equity out when you need money.
4. Buyer: I think I should wait a bit and see what happens to prices.
   Agent: a. Buy now or you’ll be priced out forever. b. Never a better time to buy! c. You’re just kidding yourself if you’re waiting for prices to fall. d. Never try to time the market. e. If you’re waiting for the perfect time to buy, you’ll be waiting forever. f. Renting is just throwing your money away.
5. Buyer: These prices are so high, surely they’re unaffordable and will come down?
   Agent: [Where property is located] is a. so desirable, people will want to live here no matter how expensive it gets. b. home to [wealthy immigrants|CEOs|old-money rich people|government employees] who will keep prices permanently high. c. land-locked, there’s nowhere to build more homes. d. unaffected by the state of the economy. e. special because it is [view property|waterfront|walk-to|etc.] in limited supply and therefore unaffected by market considerations.
6. Buyer: It seems like prices have been falling recently.
   Agent: Real estate always comes back; a. after [Super Bowl|Labor Day|etc.] things will return to normal. b. the drop was caused by [9-11|collapse of Soviet Union|earthquake| hurricane| etc.]; a one-time event. c. David Lereah, chief economist of the NAR, says this is the bottom.
7. Buyer: This is the most I can afford to pay.
   Agent: a. Such a low offer is an insult to the seller. b. The seller couldn’t accept an offer like that because his neighbors would be angry. c. The seller can’t take that offer because his loan balance is more than that.