Cardinal Partners

I bet you thought all negotiations were about tactics and ploys, and in commercial real estate, there's some really bad ones. I'm not suggesting that you use them. But I am suggesting that you know them so when you see them, you can call them for what they are. Lowballing is very common, probably the most common ploy that's used in real estate. The idea is, is that someone's going to make you an offer. It's the lowest offer they can come up with without insulting you, just to flush you out to see what other terms you might be able to offer up. Good guy, bad guy is used a lot, especially when you're dealing with landlords. The person who represents the landlord is the good guy. The person who owns the building is the bad guy. You start dealing with the guy who owns the building, he becomes the good guy, and all of a sudden it's the lender that becomes the bad guy. Call it for what it is. Get the people in one room so that you can get a straight answer. Silent treatment is, is not used enough probably in real estate, and if you're going to use a ploy, this is probably the only one I suggest that you use, only because people tend to talk too much. I'm probably talking too much right now. But the bottom line is this: say what you need to say, get the offer out, make it as simple and succinct and concrete as possible. Then get quiet. Let them respond and answer your questions. Bluffs. The world of commercial real estate is way too small for bluffs. The guy who bluffs first doesn't make it at the end of the deal. Create honest response by giving people true feedback. That's the way that you get creative solutions and great deals. Splitting down the middle is an interesting ploy because it sounds like it's being really fair. When someone comes back to you and says, look, we're a couple dollars apart, let's come together and split it down the middle. But when it's What's not fair to you is that you've already capitulated to the point where it's your lowest offer. He came to you with a lowball offer, and so of course it's in his best advantage to split it down the middle. What sounds fair, splitting things down the middle, doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be. I'm John Culbertson, Managing Director of Cardinal Real Estate Partners. We are a national real estate services firm that does a few things differently. First, we hire differently, and we hire professionals to— in every aspect of the deal. Secondly, we get paid for our performance. And thirdly, we're very process-oriented. We have great deliverables. So that our clients can have a lot of confidence in the way that we go about our real estate practice. You can find us at www.cardinal-partners.com. If you're interested in our negotiation worksheet, go to the resources page. We have hundreds of white papers and worksheets and things that'll help you with your next real estate deal. For the do-it-yourselfer, it's a great place to start.