A few things I've learned from talking to home sellers
After hundreds of conversations with resale sellers, I've started to believe that the first 10 minutes of a seller conversation can tell you more than the next 10 days of marketing.
Not because 10 minutes is a magic number.
It's simply enough time for the standard questions to get out of the way — and for the real conversation to begin.
Over time, we started noticing the same patterns.
You stop listening only to what the seller says. You start looking underneath it: How was the price arrived at? Who actually makes the decision? Is the property genuinely ready to transact? And where is the deal likely to get stuck?
A few observations that have stayed with me:
1. “For sale” doesn't always mean “ready to sell”
Some sellers are genuinely looking to transact. Others are testing the market. Some want to understand what their home is worth before deciding what to do next. Others would sell only if someone meets a number they have in mind.
There's nothing wrong with any of these. But they're very different situations.
A seller who is ready to transact usually knows what happens after the sale, who needs to sign, what their possession constraints are and what would make them move.
A seller who is testing the market often knows one thing very clearly:
“I want ₹X.”
Putting a property on the market and being ready to transact are not the same thing.
2. The interesting question isn't “What's your price?”
It's “How did you arrive at that price?” ₹2 crore could come from a recent registered transaction.
Or what a neighbour claims they got.
Or another property listed at ₹2 crore for the last six months without selling.
These are very different pieces of information.
One of the easiest traps in resale is anchoring to an asking price that was never actually tested by a transaction. The number matters.
But the story behind the number matters almost as much.
3. The best comparable isn't always the apartment next door
Sellers naturally compare their home with similar homes in the same project. Buyers don't always do that.
If someone has ₹1.5 crore to spend, their alternative might be another project, another neighbourhood, a newer building or even a new launch.
So the relevant question isn't always: “What is the closest comparable?”
It's: “What else can this buyer buy with the same money?”
Floor, view, facing, condition, parking, age, maintenance and possession can all change that answer.
4. The person giving you the price may not be the person making the decision
This one causes more friction than you'd expect.
Who owns the property? Who has to sign? Who has the documents?
Does a spouse, parent, sibling or co-owner need to agree?
We've seen situations where everyone appears aligned until another decision-maker enters the conversation — and suddenly the negotiation starts again from zero.
Until everyone who can say “no” is aligned, the quoted price may not be the actual decision price.
5. Price isn't always the reason a deal gets stuck
A seller can agree on the price and still not be ready to close.
Mortgage closure.
Missing originals.
Inheritance documents.
Multiple signatories.
Possession timelines.
Loan-related documentation.
These things can turn a seemingly simple transaction into a very complicated one. And sometimes the problem isn't price at all. A seller who needs six months to hand over possession and a buyer who needs 30 days don't necessarily have a ₹1.8 crore problem.
They have a transaction-structure problem.
6. The most revealing moment is often the first disagreement
This is probably my favourite one. Once actual buyer behaviour enters the conversation, the seller's price gets tested.
The interesting part isn't whether the seller accepts a lower number. They don't have to.
The interesting part is what happens next. Do they ask:
“Why?”
“What are comparable homes actually selling for?”
“What are buyers objecting to?”
“Is the issue the total price or the ₹/sq ft?”
“What would make my property more competitive?”
Or is the conversation simply:
“No. That's too low.”
There is a huge difference between defending a price and trying to understand the market.
After enough resale conversations, we've started thinking about the first 10 minutes differently.
They're not really about predicting whether someone will sell.
They're about finding the friction before the buyer finds it.
Price. Decision-making. Comparables. Execution. Negotiation.
The best resale transactions we've seen aren't necessarily the ones where everyone agreed on the price immediately.
They're the ones where the important questions were surfaced early.
I'm curious to hear from people who've recently sold a home:
What did you think would be the difficult part of selling — and what actually turned out to be difficult?
