Rules of Real Estate to Live By

When I started in the commercial real estate business in 1984 at IRC, I began keeping a journal of maxims and good advice to myself that I hope would help me along my career path.  Here is a collection that I hope you might find helpful.

Raub’s Rules of Real Estate And Favorite Words of Wisdom.

1. Never lose money.

2. Never forget Rule #1

3. It is very difficult to make a lot of money and very few who do, hold onto it. Calculate your risks!

4. You make your money when you buy.

5. You can’t do a good deal with a bad guy.

6. Always have a Plan “B”.

7. Five minutes early is “on time”.

8. Selling is a transference of emotion. You must believe in your product and get the other person excited about it too: Tell the feature – Sell the Benefits – Ask for the sale 7 times!

9. Enemies decrease your power, while allies increase your power.

10. Set realistic and achievable goals for the short term and let God take care of the long term. There are too many variables and unexpected circumstances in life to try to account for all of them.

11. Maintaining Harmony and unity within your close, personal relationships is more important than profit.

12. Employ your resources- self, others, things- in accordance with their capabilities. Know your own limitations and don’t be afraid to stretch yourself. You never know your limits until you exceed them!

13. Don’t reinforce failure. Resources are too precious to squander. Cut your losses and redeploy in a more promising direction.

14. Dwelling on the past will not propel you forward, be it a “good” past or a “bad” one. Successful people are always advancing to the next challenge.

15. In negotiating, the side that needs the deal the most will give up the most to make the deal. Negotiate from a position of strength. Don’t allow yourself to get into a position where you must make a deal, because then you have lost your power over your own destiny. The ultimate power in a negotiation is to walk away.

16. Wise decisions increase your options for the future. Bad decisions limit your options. Choosing well increases your flexibility.

17. Ask for more than you are willing to settle for. This will allow room to negotiate and you may end up with a better deal.

18. Create an environment where those around you really want you to succeed, and you will.

*Editor’s Note: Because of the way the list was composed, unfortunately, it is not possible to credit every source. Investment Realty isn’t claiming ownership of the material and is just sharing the information for professional purposes which we hope you will find both useful and entertaining,.