There
are many aspects to investing in real estate that need to work like a symphony.
All must do their part and perform well. And it doesn’t matter if you’re
investing in homes or commercial property.
One
of your most powerful skills is your ability to negotiate. But don’t let that
word scare you.
As
you’ll soon discover, negotiating a winning deal is simply a skill that can be
learned. You’ve been negotiating all your life. We all do it every single day
to get something we want.
Here
are three very powerful negotiating tips you can use right away in your own
investing adventures.
1.
One of the greatest concerns a seller has is the fear of making a mistake. A
person who’s driven by fear during negotiations tends to constantly look for
something wrong. And that tendency causes a seller to disagree with almost anything you say.
What
you’ll do is simply turn it around. Here’s how…
Your
goal is to lead the seller through a process of admitting obvious truths with
you instead of defensive arguing. And you can skillfully turn this into a
winning deal.
Seller: No, not really. We haven’t found anyone who’s
serious.
This
is a very typical scenario. Notice the seller still disagrees with you. But the
difference is the seller is telling the obvious truth. And there’s no
‘defensive’ arguing leading to building walls with you.
2.
Learn the language patterns of reluctant buyers. There are specific language
patterns used. You can simply learn them to become a more effective negotiator.
The
most often used pattern is how everything is ‘qualified’ before saying it.
Here
are just a few patterns you can use:
“I’m
not sure about this, but maybe we can…”
“This
might not be possible, but what if…”
“I
don’t know if my partner will agree to this, but what if I persuade her to go
along with…”
What’s
happening is you, the reluctant real estate investor, are subtly
stepping back from a deal. You’re not totally backing out. The effect is subtle
when properly executed.
And
this creates psychological space.
The
natural tendency is for the seller to move forward to fill that empty space.
It’s a natural human thing to do. We’ve all done it in various scenarios in
life.
This
is very powerful once you’ve mastered your own style with this technique.
3.
Never discuss specifics of price, terms, or numbers until you’ve
spent time talking through the seller’s motivation to sell the property. In
addition to helping solve someone’s problem, your benefit will be getting a
great buy.
I’ll
explain why this is so important…
First,
emotional reasons are at the core of all buying and selling decisions. People
make emotional decisions justified with logic to make us ‘feel’ like we did the
right thing.
The
seller realizes and is intellectually aware of the motivations for selling the
property. But spending time bringing out the motivations through sincere
discussion will make the seller feel it. The focus shifts from a mental
awareness to emotional feeling.
And
when that happens you’ll also get to the real motivating reasons for selling
the property. The last and most powerful benefit from doing this is…
You’ll
be creating an emotional rapport, or bond, with the seller. And that leads
directly to the single most powerful negotiating tip of all.
Master
the ability to create an emotional connection with people.
The
only way to achieve high success investing in real estate is to negotiate great
deals the seller and you feel good about. The seller feels good because you’ve
met her needs. You, as the investor, feel good because you made a healthy
profit.
Creating
an emotional connection compels the seller to work with you. Rapport builds
trust and a willingness to work with you as a ‘team.’
Use
these tips in your own real estate investments because they work. They are just
a small handful of what I’ve used in my own investing career.
