I viewed a house recently and tried to negotiate the rent.

The listing had been up for months.

The owners wouldn’t budge.

Another agency had previously given them a higher valuation, and that number had become the truth in their heads.

There was just one problem.

Nobody was paying it.

The flat remained unrented.

Now it’s coming off the market after they rejected our offer.

That’s anchoring in action.

You hear a number first, attach meaning to it, then judge every future offer against it.

The same thing happens with salaries.

Maybe your previous role paid $180,000.

Maybe a recruiter once said you could get $240,000.

Maybe a salary report showed the top of the range and you quietly decided that was your number.

Maybe some PM coach keeps talking about $1M+ offers like they’re the norm (they’re not).

Those figures matter.

But they don’t settle the question.

Your previous valuation is evidence.

The current market still gets a vote.

This doesn’t mean accepting the first low offer because somebody calls it “competitive.”

Companies anchor too.

It means looking at the complete signal instead of defending one number forever.

One optimistic estimate isn’t a market.

Neither is one lowball offer.

The uncomfortable option is refusing every signal because it conflicts with the number you heard first.

That house may well have been worth the asking price to its owners.

But an empty property doesn’t pay rent.

James “still checking Rightmove” Gunaca