Josh Flagg gets vendors to tell him their price before he tells them his.
It’s a small move with big consequences. In a Q&A with John McGrath at AREC 2026 on the Gold Coast, the Beverly Hills agent – who has sold more than US$3 billion in residential property – explained the psychology behind the technique and several other habits that have kept him at the top of the US luxury market for twenty years.
“Let’s say somebody calls in and they say, ‘I live at one two three Main Street,’” Josh said.
“I go, ‘Oh, so I’m assuming it’s in the ten to twelve million dollar range.’ I’ve never seen the house. They can’t say I underpriced it. I’m fishing. They’ll say, ‘Well, it’s really probably more nine.’ Now I know exactly what’s in their head, but I sound like I came there ahead of time.”
It’s a simple approach – offer a wide range, let the vendor narrow it, and walk into the appointment already knowing the number you need to address.
Product knowledge as a competitive weapon
Josh started selling at eighteen, without a profile or a television show. What he did have was an obsessive knowledge of houses.
As a child, his mother would drive him through the streets of Beverly Hills in her convertible just to calm him down. While other kids played sports, he studied gates, architecture, and floor plans.
That obsession became his listing pitch.
“Within five minutes, I could tell them more about their house than even they knew about their house,” Josh said.
“What the house across the street sold for in 1976, who owned it, the history – that gives me the edge. It’s not homework. It’s just something I’ve always done.”
For agents looking to sharpen their own listing presentation strategy, Josh’s message was clear: if learning about your market feels like a chore, you’re in the wrong business.
“If it’s your job, you’re not going to be successful. You have to love it.”
The candour that wins (and sometimes loses) the listing
Josh is known for challenging vendors on price in the room – even during the interview.
“They’ll say, ‘I think my house is worth eight million dollars.’ I’ll say, ‘Tell me why.’
They give me a whole bunch of reasons, and I’ll say, ‘Could it be possible that the reason you priced it at eight million was that you want to?’”
He acknowledged the risk. The vendor can simply hire the next agent who quotes a higher number.
“That’s fine. And then six months from now, when the house hasn’t sold, I’m going to be sitting here again,” Josh said.
“I think they appreciate that candour.”
He draws a clear line on pricing: If the gap is manageable – say, $10 million versus $12 million – he’ll take the listing and work the seller down.
If the gap is absurd – six to twelve – he walks.
“Within that six-month period of time, they’re going to come to realise their house is overpriced and they’re going to reduce it,” he said.
As proof, he pointed to a listing he had taken days before AREC, in which the vendor wanted $3 million for a property he valued at $2.7 million. Within days, the seller agreed to reduce the price by $150,000.
Never oversell
Josh shared a story about a property that had sat on the market for three years at US$8.5 million with another agent. When the owners asked how much he wanted to reduce the price, he told them the price was fine – the problem was the previous agent.
He then stacked five buyer inspections five minutes apart and deliberately arrived ten minutes late, so all five were lined up at the front door.
“What does that look like to you? A bidding war,” Josh said.
“I showed them the house, and then they started negotiating with me. One says, ‘What about seven and a half million?’ I say, ‘What about eight and a half million?’ I talk to them like I have nothing to lose. And the more you torture them, the more they want to buy it.”
His broader point – one that echoes advice from Josh Altman’s earlier session – was about restraint. Department store salespeople who hover kill the sale. The same principle applies to property.
“There is nothing worse than a real estate agent who oversells.”
Open houses and the phone rule
For newer agents, Josh’s advice was refreshingly old-school: more open houses.
“The number one thing you can do to get clients is set an open house,” he said.
“You don’t even have to set your own. There’s plenty of agents that cancel their open houses. You offer to sit theirs for them, and then people walk in.”
And when you’re in any appointment – listing presentation or otherwise – the phone goes away.
“The minute I go into an appointment, my phone goes on silent. My time is dedicated to that person. That’s how they know they’re the only client.”
Your Tuesday morning to-do list
- Pick one suburb in your area and spend 15 minutes learning its sale history – not just the last three months, but the last three decades. Who built what, what the landmarks sold for, and what’s changed. Bring one of those facts to your next listing appointment.
- Before your next vendor meeting, call and offer a wide price range based on the street and suburb. Let the vendor narrow it. Write down the number they land on before you walk in.
- Put your phone on silent before your next appointment – not vibrate, silent. If it rings, ignore it from your pocket. Give that vendor your full attention for the entire meeting.
- If you don’t have any open houses this weekend, call three agents in your office and offer to sit theirs. Treat every person who walks through the door as a potential client, not a browser.
- Review your current listings. Is there one where the vendor’s price expectation is materially above your valuation? Have the honest conversation this week – not next month.