Even luxury homes get low-ball offers, and owners have no problem turning them down.

Case in point, Columbia law school professor Hans Smit. He has his Manhattan mansion for sale at a price of $30 Million . The Real Estate Journal reports that he supposedly had an offer come in at $20 Million. Of course, he turned it down.

Low ball offers are nothing new in the luxury field. Many times, people that can barely afford the lifestyle, try to buy the lifestyle through below market value offers. Sometimes they find a seller willing to take their price, but most of the time, affluent home owners say no.

Some think, “Hey, what’s a couple hundred thousand off list price to the seller”…”they’ve got enough”…”it won’t hurt their pocket book”. However, what many forget to see is that the wealthy became wealthy by making sound business decisions, and usually not letting emotions get in the way.

Of course, there are some luxury home owners that do get emotional, and let a perfectly good offer slip through their fingers. It’s hard, as a real estate agent, to see this happen. You can council someone till “the cows come home”, but if they don’t listen, then all you can do is throw your hands up in the air and give in.

When ever a listing of mine has an offer come in, I prepare my clients for the possibility of a low offer. I tell them to not be offended. Any offer is a good offer, in my opinion. All you have to do is counter back at a higher price. Sometimes, buyers really want the home, but are just fishing to see if they get lucky. Remember, the secret of any real estate negotiation is to not get emotional!