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

One of the things that can significantly weaken the other side’s
position is when they have rejected your offer to take a better offer,
but that falls through and they come back to you. In a case like that,
you can press your advantage, as I once did when negotiating the pur-
chase of a radio station, WGLI on Long Island in the late 1960s. The
seller initially wanted $500,000 all cash. My brother-in-law and I
were partners and we offered $450,000—$50,000 in cash and a
$400,000 mortgage. Their lawyer rejected the offer and said “we have
an all-cash offer of $500,000, which we’re taking.” A month later, the
same lawyer called me and said, “the other deal fell through, we will
accept your offer.” Well now he’s in my ballpark! I said, “What
offer?” He said, “Well, you said you’d pay $450,000 with terms.” I
replied, “Yes, but unfortunately that was a month ago. We have since
invested the bulk of our money in several other projects. But if you’re
willing to recast the deal, we will think it over.” I went to my brother-
in-law and said I think they’d accept $400,000 with $100,000 down
and the balance in a 4 percent mortgage. “Go ahead,” he said. So I
made the offer, and they accepted it! That’s how I got into the radio
business, on extremely good terms—I exploited the seller’s weakness.

BY GEORGE ...THE SOL GOLDMAN
NEGOTIATING STYLE
Learn which techniques are most effective with the other side. If
they hate paperwork, barrage them with paper. If they can’t tolerate
long discussions, drag them out. If they are intimidated by an angry
outburst, display your anger when it is appropriate to do so. Sol
Goldman once used this tactic very effectively in a negotiation I par-
ticipated in before I joined the Trump Organization. Goldman
wanted to buy a building, and he was willing to pay $15 million, all
cash. (Goldman was a multimillionaire who became one of the rich-
est men in America, and he had a lot of available cash on hand.)

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