We know that before we can Solve the Deal—and ultimately get the Seller to say yes—we have to Solve the Person, so that we understand our audience and know their perspectives, opinions and motivations. But where do we start? In this episode, Jeff shares a simple way to begin Solving the Person: every Seller is either moving TOWARD something, or moving AWAY from something. Once you understand which of these your Seller is doing, you can make great progress Solving the Person.

Instead of racking up rentals by simply buying existing properties and renovating them, what if you were to physically build your rental properties from the ground up? And what if instead of keeping all those homes, you sold many of them and built a great business and brand as a homebuilder? In this episode, Jeff interviews George Hale of Woodhill Homes, a top-notch homebuilder in Oregon. Jeff and George discuss why sex sells when it comes to homebuilding, how to decide whether to keep or sell a new home, the value of adversity, the idea that in every negotiation, someone is lying, and so much more.

There’s an old expression in real estate: “Your Price, My Terms…or My Price, Your Terms.” It’s an extremely simple idea, and provides a great, simple framework for thinking about how we can negotiate win-win deals with Sellers. In this episode, Jeff explains how to use this simple rule of thumb to be creative and thoughtful in your deal structuring efforts, and ultimately to craft more proposals that get accepted.

As Thoughtful Real Estate Entrepreneurs, we only propose deals that are mutually beneficial—win-win’s for both buyer and seller…right? Yes, that’s true, but this brings up a very important point. Just because we only propose mutually beneficial solutions doesn’t mean that we frame the conversation with the seller as being “mutually beneficial.” In this episode, Jeff explains that the perfect negotiation is one that does indeed result in a mutually beneficial transaction, but without ever focusing on the buyer’s win at all.

To celebrate this milestone 100th episode, Jeff interviews his personal coach and mentor, Greg Pinneo. Greg is a 45-year full-time veteran of real estate investing. He is a national speaker and acclaimed educator of real estate entrepreneurs, and is known for his truly unique and inimitable mix of fresh perspectives on real estate finance, negotiation, philosophy and life. As Greg is known to say, his specialty is “wonderfully disturbing” the people who have the opportunity to listen to his message. In this incredible interview, Jeff and Greg discuss everything from real estate finance, to left-brain and right-brain balance in real estate acquisition, the value of adversity and so much more.

When you’re negotiating a deal, is it best to just ask for everything you want all at once, upfront? As Thoughtful Real Estate Entrepreneurs, we believe in the art of “incremental negotiation”—the process of strategically getting a series of micro-agreements, instead of just asking for everything we want at once. Instead of insisting a Seller take one big leap, we often use the skills of incremental negotiation to move them along a series of smaller stepping stones, in the direction of the end result we want. In this episode, Jeff describes the importance of incremental negotiation, and how to do it thoughtfully and strategically.