October 9th, 2011 
jvremec
Real World Negotiation
By Casey Cavell
President, CSSM, QSM
For those of you who do not know me, my name is Casey Cavell and I am a 25 year old commercial real estate investor and entrepreneur. Prior to achieving success in commercial real estate, I prepared to embark upon the industry by thoroughly educating myself. To do this, I started reaching out to industry professionals, reading everything I could get my hands on, and facing real world situations head on. I also owe a special thank you to my dad for teaching me the art of negotiating at an early age. To this date, it is still one of my most favorite pastimes and it has also helped me in my career. I attribute my ability to reach my goals to everything I have learned throughout my life.
I mentioned above that my dad introduced me to the art of negotiating. I remember we once attended an Atlanta Braves game for only a and ever since then, my dad has almost refused to pay more than for a ticket. Game tickets cost much more than so as you can imagine, we needed to be great negotiators. Since those days with me dad, I’ve adjusted my price point; mainly due to the inflation that has occurred since the 1990′s. I am now willing to pay per ticket rather than .Try to do this at a Cubs game on a Saturday in the summer. Its takes work! Check that, negotiating. Negotiating is definitely in my blood!
I can be at a sporting event, a restaurant, a club, or even negotiating with my girlfriend about what TV show we’re going to watch that night (Jersey Shore is her favorite). Negotiating is a game to me and if you are treating something like a game and you enjoying it then naturally you will become better at it over time.
Speaking of getting better at something, I paid my way through college playing professional poker and it has taught me quite a bit about life and about people. It also helped me hone my negotiating skills. Poker is about negotiating and becoming comfortable in your surroundings. When I would sit down at a poker table I made sure that I was prepared, comfortable and confident. I would have as much information on the opponent (treat them as a friend) as possible and I would do my best to bring a friendly banter to the game. I now do the same thing when I sit down at a real estate negotiation. The art of negotiation; whether at a poker game or in real estate is a game but it also requires skill.
I now approach a negotiation much like I did a poker game. When I walk into a negotiation, no matter what it is I’m negotiating, I am always well versed in the subject and I always try to find people to play the game with that are not nearly as educated on the subject as I am. Whenever I sat down to a poker game I could tell l right away how knowledgeable my opponents (friends) were. The same holds true to today; whenever I sit down to negotiate with someone, I have a pretty good idea of how knowledgeable they are on the subject. I am able to do this by engaging the individual in our initial conversations. I always try to ask open ended questions and I take notes. Questions could be “Tell me about your real estate career”, “How did you get started in the business?” or “Do you play much poker?” Simple questions like these can paint a good picture for you to formulate a strategy against your “friend”.
One of the key concepts of doing business and negotiating successfully is trying to work with people that are not professionals in the field and do not operate their business as such. An example of this at a poker game might be a tourist looking to have fun, who doesn’t care if he wins or loses, and has plenty of money to blow. For instance, I once witnessed a friend of mine win a poker pot when he had the worst hand at the table. His opponent (treated as a friend) felt bad winning from him and ended up giving him the entire pot. Unfortunately, this does not happen to everyone. The gentleman who gave up his pot of money to my friend was a doctor from California, in Vegas for the weekend to have a good time and really did not care whether he won or lost. He was an amateur and was not motivated by money but by something else.
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Any tips for negotiating the price of a used car?
I am 17 and my mother and I are looking at finding a reliable, used car for when I go off to college next year.
At our local Ford dealership, there is a blue, 2007 Ford Escape with 100,000 miles on it. The sticker price was $10,000, but was dropped to 9,500. We test drove the vehicle yesterday and everything seemed to be alright except the tires were cupped. The dealer was going to replace all four tires and said it would cost him about $300.
Neither one of us know anything about cars or have very good negotiating skills, haha. I am wondering if anyone has any tips that we could use to get a reasonable price for the car. We don’t want the dealer to rip us off, even though we have purchased a few new cars from him in the past.
What would be a good price for us to offer at first? Or does the car sound worth the sticker price?
Thanks!!
Shop around at other dealerships and see what’s available. 100,000 in 4 years. I would think it was a returned leased fleet vehicle.
Mediation How-To for Trial Lawyers?
The June issue of Trial, a publication of the American Association for Justice, contains a helpful “How-To” article for trial lawyers on the mediation of commercial disputes. Stewart I. Edelstein wrote the lengthy “Hot-To” article, which discusses such topics as choosing the right mediator, preparing to mediate, selecting which strategies to utilize, getting past impasse and finalizing the mediation. The tips are summarized quickly for you below.
Choosing a Mediator Mr. Edelstein writes that you should chose a mediator ?”who is impartial and has a strong track record for effective problem-solving, excellent negotiating skills, patience, trustworthiness, a keen business sense, and a good sense of humor.” However, sometimes a general mediator won’t get the job done. You may need to choose a mediator who focuses on a particular area, such as construction or patents.
Mike Paget
While very interesting…I do not see a question in here.
How do you negotiate a good price on new furniture?
I’ve never purchased something like furniture or a car before, and I do not have much of a poker face. Any tips on negotiating for furniture to get the best price and deal, or where to shop? It’s sort of like a life skill I never learned, so if I can’t figure this out, I might just bring my cop friend along with me to help me out.
1. Look for sales. In our area, every few months we’ll see someone standing on a busy corner with a big sign about some furniture store liquidating or going out of business. Go, see what they have and check the prices. Best bargains will be had at closings and liquidations. However, understand, if you buy that way, you are not going to be able to make a return if something is not right, and sometimes you may not be able to pay by check.
2. Check online or do some in store checking at a number of stores to get a good idea of what the prices are in general. You cannot go in and be buying at the first place you look at if you have no basis for comparison.
3. Look to buy towards the end of the month. Salespeople are looking to make sales and move inventory at month end to make their sales quota for the month – so they will be more amenable to give additional discounts, low rate or free shipping, possibly eat the sales tax on your purchase.
4. Remember that everything is negotiable. If the salesperson is not willing to budge on price and you think you should be getting better terms, write down all the prices being offered on what you want, and say “this is all really good, however I just need to go to XYZ (local/known competitor) and check what they have”.
Above was for furniture, however, for autos it is basically the same. Auto prices are very well known these days (visit kbb.com) and have the base and option prices for what you want when you visit a dealer. For autos other things to keep in mind:
1. If you are buying new, negotiate your best deal, then indicate your trade-in (if doing that).
2. Auto manufacturers are in deep trouble right now. US are teetering on bankruptcy, foreign have lower sales because US consumer is not buying. After negotiating your best deal, indicate you want interest free financing for the longest period they can provide. With 0% it will generally be no more than 2 years. However, they can also offer 0.9%, 1.9%, etc. If you have good credit you will be in a much better position to negotiate.
3. When negotiating at an auto dealership, do not let the salesperson put lots of numbers in front of you giving a monthly payment and saying “sign this, let me talk with my manager to see if it’s ok”. You tell him “give me the total price with everything included” (which you can compare to your kbb.com numbers). A monthly payment hides what the total cost is to you.
4. Dealerships will always try and throw other things into the total – tell the salesperson to eliminate anything which is not: 1. the car or 2. required tax/title/documentation fees. “Dealer Prep” is a favorite for a few hundred dollars. Do not agree to this charge.
We bought a new car once, 13 years ago and will keep it until it is on life support. We now only buy used from the dealer. We look online for what the dealer’s inventory is, find what we want, call to make an appointment to go and see/drive. We go with a set price of what we’ll pay and the dealer accepts it. Whatever the internet posted price is, we’ll take 10% to 20% off, give them our flat/final/all-in price and have not had any issue. The dealers have many off-lease vehicles with low mileage and are looking to move them. They’ll be much easier as far as negotiation, and will provide anywhere from 3 months to a full year warranty. Since a new car will depreciate very rapidly, you should try to go the used route and get into the mindset that an auto is just a utility – something you use to get you from one place to another reliably and has a limited life. Personally, I’d rather let the original purchaser pay the full retail price, and then pick up the vehicle at half price when its 2 years old.
In any case, with the economy the way it is today, the buyer is in the best negotiating position ever. Key point is that you have to be able to just walk away if the deal isn’t right. You might even try to go visit some places and just look, and then walk away. Don’t go in to the office, don’t sit down and talk, don’t sign anything.
How can one become proficient in the Art of Bargaining? What are the skills required, or need to be acquired?
! But I *need* to shop big time now…and find myself *inadequate*. I *need* to stretch my Rupee to the Max!
I have neglected this important function so far…as I dislike Shopping (contrary to prevalent belief that women enjoy nothing better
All useful *tips* are eagerly looked forward to…which would help me develop my (non-existent) negotiating skills…without making me look like a fool, or…umm, a beggar
Please Advice!
) I guess my husband too loves me only for this reason…and is willing to give me free hand (knowing fully well I’d take good care of his funds 
Clever man! Isn’t he?!?
LOL @ Phil
Funny incident, Adwait! I guess you forgot to tell your friend when to stop…or, maybe he thought he could get it for free, if he persisted, LOL!
@ Meenakshi: Can I borrow S for few days??? I promise I’d treat him well, to sumptuous lunches/tea/coffee…between shopping breaks
Thanks a lot, everyone! Each one of you have given very helpful ideas to get started! I appreciate your efforts
I generally go to fixed price shops as haggling is not my passion.
But my mother is a pro. She has loads of patience and never loses her cool. I believe Patience is the key here. Like who blinks first
Then she talks about vague things to develop some kind of rapport with the merchant.
I leave it all to her. I’d likewise suggest to you to go with a pastmaster and watch keenly.
Happy Shopping!