Updated 20 September 2026: first published on Elite Agent in May 2025. The article has been refreshed as an AI basics guide to preparing a negotiation brief, with a starting prompt and access to the free extended prompt pack.
A seller receives an offer. The price matters, but so might the timing, the conditions and what happens next. Before you reach for a persuasive script, find out which of those things your client is weighing up.
If you are new to using AI in real estate, preparing a negotiation brief is a useful first exercise. Give the AI the facts you have and ask it to organise them into questions for your next conversation.
In this instalment of AI basics for real estate, the task is to create a preparation note you can check against the original offer. You do not need an automated system or a complicated prompt library.
Use an AI chat tool your agency has approved, such as ChatGPT or Claude where permitted. A prompt is simply the instruction you type into that chat. The quality of the brief depends on the information you provide; the tool cannot establish a client’s private motivations or authorise commitments on their behalf.
Start with four questions about the move
My starting point is a real estate application of Bob Moesta’s demand-side selling work. The Re-Wired Group describes four forces of progress: push, pull, anxiety and habit. I use them as prompts for a conversation, rather than a score for how likely someone is to accept an offer.
- Push: What has the client told you is making their current situation difficult?
- Pull: What would they like the move to make possible?
- Anxiety: What questions or uncertainties do they want resolved?
- Habit: What familiar routines, practical arrangements or attachments would change?
Ask the person. A suburb, age bracket or property type is not evidence of someone’s finances, urgency or willingness to compromise.
For example, “What would a workable moving date look like?” gives you something to discuss. “They must be desperate to move” gives you an assumption that could take the conversation in the wrong direction.
What information should I give AI before a negotiation?
Put the information into a short preparation note. Separate these four parts:
- The offer: the price, conditions and dates as actually supplied, with anything unclear marked for confirmation.
- Your client’s instructions: what they have said matters, what you are authorised to communicate and any limits on that authority.
- Supporting evidence: relevant, checked information, with sources and dates. Keep a forecast separate from an observed result.
- Open questions: what needs clarification from the client, the other party or an appropriate adviser.
Use a de-identified version in an approved AI tool. Keep another party’s confidential information out of the brief. If a detail is not needed for the exercise, leave it out.
How do I compare the offer with the alternatives?
Ask AI to help you organise the choices. Depending on the situation, these might include accepting, countering, seeking clarification, waiting or declining.
For each option, identify what is known, what remains uncertain and whose agreement is needed. A proposed change to settlement or another condition is an option to discuss, not a concession you can automatically make.
Fictional preparation example: a seller says price matters, but they also need time to organise their next move. An offer arrives with a settlement date they have not considered. The useful next step is to clarify their timing needs and the offer’s terms. It is not to assume that a higher price overrides everything else, or that the buyer will agree to a different date.
How do I ask AI to prepare the brief?
Start a new chat. Copy the prompt below, replace the bracketed sections with de-identified notes and send it. If you do not know a detail, write “not confirmed”. You can try it with a fictional practice offer first.
Help me prepare for a real estate negotiation conversation.
I represent: [PARTY]
Confirmed offer details and dates: [FACTS]
My client's stated priorities and instructions: [STATEMENTS]
Relevant evidence, with sources and dates: [MATERIAL]
Questions or disputed details: [GAPS]
Create a concise preparation brief with:
1. Confirmed facts and instructions.
2. Questions I still need to ask.
3. Feasible options to discuss, including waiting or declining where relevant.
4. Trade-offs, uncertainties and approvals needed for each option.
5. Three neutral opening questions for the client conversation.
Use only the supplied material. Do not infer hidden motives, distress, finances or family circumstances. Do not invent comparable sales, competing offers, deadlines or permission to make concessions. Flag any point that needs professional advice. Keep proposed wording separate from the client's actual words.
This is preparation for my review. The client decides what to do.How do I check the answer?
Read the result alongside the original offer and your notes. Check every price, date and condition. Confirm that the client’s words have not become assumptions about what they might accept.
Remove invented facts, unsupported predictions and wording that puts pressure on the client. If the answer is too long, ask: “Keep the confirmed facts and turn the open questions into a short checklist.” A confident answer can still be wrong.
Make the next conversation useful
Take the brief into the discussion as a set of questions. Confirm that you have understood the client’s priorities, explain the options you can support with evidence and agree the next step.
If a deadline is real and documented, explain it. If it is not, do not manufacture urgency. Keep a record of the instructions you receive, including any decision to pause.
For more specific situations, my free eight-prompt negotiation pack covers buyer and seller preparation, offer presentation, counter-offers, dialogue, objections, progress planning and stalemates. The prompts are my adaptation of the framework, not quotations from Moesta.
You can also practise an objection conversation before you have it with a client. Use the practice to improve your questions and explanations, then listen to the person in front of you.
The original version first appeared in Samantha McLean’s AI Powered Agents newsletter. Read the refreshed prompt pack on AI Powered Real Estate by Samantha McLean, now on Substack.