A re-trade is when the buyer comes back to the seller asking for a lower price because they have found a problem during due diligence. Re-trades happen for two reasons: the buyer finds a serious problem during due diligence that changes the deal's price, or they signed at an aggressive price to win the deal and are now using the due diligence period to discount the number. In NYC, the most common causes are open violations, environmental findings, rent-stabilized tenants, and title issues — most of which a prepared seller could have surfaced and resolved before the buyer ever found them. The best defense against a re-trade is to clear your violations, know your tenants, and go to market with accurate numbers and clean documents. If you find the problems first, the buyer has nothing to renegotiate against.

Example: A seller in Bushwick accepts a $4.2 million offer on a development site, but during the 45-day due diligence period the buyer discovers $80,000 in open ECB violations, a Phase I environmental flag from a former dry cleaner, and two rent-stabilized tenants with leases running through 2027 — none of which were disclosed in the offering memorandum. The buyer comes back with a revised offer of $3.5 million, and the seller, already three months into the process and reluctant to restart, accepts.