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TR U M P STR A TEGI ES FO R R E A L ESTA TE

impression of being “a nice person to deal with.” Some of Trump’s
best deals were the result of recommendations from adversaries with
whom he had past dealings. Leaving pleasant memories is the best
personal advertisement in any real estate transaction.
Here’s a great example of Trump’s relationship-building skill in
action from the Commodore-Hyatt deal. Trump had never met Vic-
tor Palmieri, an executive with Penn Central Railroad, which owned
the Commodore Hotel, but Trump knew Palmieri would have to play
a key role if Trump’s idea were to become reality. With full confi-
dence in his project and his salesmanship, Donald Trump called
Palmieri, introduced himself, and said, “Give me 15 minutes of your
time and we can reverse the decline of the City of New York and in-
crease the value of your Penn Central holdings.” In the meeting,
Trump got Palmieri’s attention and a solid working relationship was
created. Without Trump building a strong cooperative relationship
with Victor Palmieri, the decision maker for Penn Central, he would
have never had the opportunity to purchase the Commodore from
Penn Central, let alone get Palmieri’s help in pressuring the city for
its cooperation, which became critical later on.
Small investors tend to think that they have no basis for building
a personal relationship, and therefore no negotiating power. Nega-
tive thoughts create their own problems. You may be dealing with
someone who’s much more successful, or who works for a large, im-
personal bank. You may think they can’t (or won’t) relate to you, but
that’s not true. You can relate to each other as human beings. Look
for anything at all you may have in common.
If you’re going into a meeting with someone, learn as much about
them beforehand as you can. Ask someone else about them, find out
what they know. If you’re going to meet with an owner of a rental
property, speak to one of his tenants beforehand. Ask questions, such
as, Is it a good property? What do you think about the landlord?

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