Sellers! Help your buyers

I looked at a small wooded tract a couple of weeks ago.

Before visiting, I asked the seller if he had a deed that he could send me so that I could run the calls through a deed-mapper program to check the acreage. He said that he did, but that he would not provide it. “Go get it at the courthouse,” he said. The courthouse was a five-hour drive away. I asked for the deed book and page number, so that I could phone in a request. “Look it up,” he said.

Most questions were met with stonewalls and an I’m-too-busy-to-be-bothered attitude.

What advantage could this seller have thought he might be achieving by acting this way? Beats me.

I’m reading an excellent book on negotiating by Steve Cohen, Negotiating Skills for Managers, McGraw-Hill, 2002, $14.95. Steve runs The Negotiation Skills Company outside of Boston, which provides professional negotiators and assistance. www.negotiationskills.com.

Sellers will help themselves in negotiations by being civil, helpful and honest.