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H IGH -P OWERED R EAL E ST A TE T ECHNIQUES

that one. His delay in responding also gave him the time to
sharpen his response and then deliver it as if he were a local
yokel shooting from the hip without considering the depth of
the subject matter. When Sol Goldman died in 1987, his real
estate holdings were appraised at over $700 million and reputed
to be second in size only to the holdings of New York City. Not
bad for someone who gave the appearance of being dumb.
• Ziff ’s Principle of Least Effort. As I mentioned in Chapter 1, Ziff
was a researcher who concluded that in any negotiation people
will expend the least amount of effort to arrive at a result. You
can use this principle to your advantage by agreeing to do all the
work that the other side really doesn’t want to do. Tell the other
side that you know how busy they are and you will take a load off
of them by doing much of the menial work. Besides appearing to
be helpful, if you are the party who originates and controls the
documentation and preparation of financial information relating
to any transaction you have a huge edge. You know what you put
in the documentation and what you left out. The reader has a
tendency to be trapped by the written word and concentrates on
what he sees, not what he doesn’t see. Let Ziff’s findings work
for you.
• Everyone loves a “freebie.” This principle is the cornerstone of
many successful marketing and sales strategies. “Buy one get
one free.” “If you take advantage of this special offer, we’ll
send you another gizmo absolutely free.” “Buy today and we’ll
pay the shipping charges.” The list is endless but it works. Try
to come up with something you are willing to throw into
the deal without charge and that minor inducement might win
the day.
• People believe in the “one good turn theory.” “One hand washes the
other” and “One good turn deserves another” are considered
by most people to be the fair way of doing business. I tend to

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