Is it necessary to be ruthless?

Is squatting considered ruthless?

“ask and you shall recieve”

Sincerely, Jarrah

++CASH FLOW PROPERTY HUNTER
(your not hunting if your not hungry)

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Climbing & Consulting
Arboricultural Services
0431433288

“be ye angels?”,
“nay we are but MEN!”

I almost agree with Maple above. Well I do agree but with one caveat.

There are sometimes people out there who because of their very nature or even just cultural differences need to get everything that can out of a deal and deny you everything they can. When you strike someone like this you have three choices:

Not do business with them.

Give in.

Treat them the same in return.

As distasteful as the third option is sometimes it is all they will respect. I am the friendliest guy in the world and lie awake at night worrying that everyone is happy. I usually walk when I get a client like this or am negotiating with someone like this. Takes too much from me. But as my wife says – I am soft [blush2]

Cheers,

Simon Macks
Residential and Commercial Finance Broker
***NODOC @ 7.15% to 70% LVR***
[email protected]
0425 228 985

Comments may not be relevant to individual circumstances. If you intend making any investment, financial or taxation decision you should consult a professional adviser.

If I could just chip in with “depends on what your individual definition of words are…..and also what your individual frame of reference is to any particular deal.”

Looking at the front of any legal contract – whether it be a sale contract, a lease contract or any other type of contract…..the definition of many of the terms is clearly spelt out so that there is no ambiguity. There is good reasons as to why these are in there, to quell the emotive spats, and why many people simply skim over them and just make it up as they go along.

Using emotive words like ‘ruthless’, ‘nasty’, ‘unfair’, ‘greedy’ and ‘mean’ shows a distinct lack of mature legal terminology, and instead falls back on the fluffy emotional side of business. Then of course there is the motherlode of all fluffy business words – nice…..”Oh – he’s a nice man. What a nice couple. Nice garden. She’s the nicest Banker I’ve ever dealt with. Weren’t the opposing party’s solicitors really nice to us….”

The business we all seem to be interested in, is purchasing chunks of dirt with varying forms of boxes placed on top…..for the sole purpose of extracting a decent rental return and perhaps an element of capital growth……that’s it. Unfortunately, business is conducted by humans, for the benefit of humans and therefore all of the emotive baggage comes along for a ride, and in some cases, over-rides the simple cold hard numbers in the deals and ‘other’ things start getting in the way of the deal……emotive terms like integrity, reputation, honour, manners, principles, ethics…..etc etc.

Hell, we nearly lost a lucrative leasing deal because the guy wanted to play hardball with me, but then decided he didn’t really want to play hardball after all. It took a gentle little tummy rub from the wife on his soft underbelly for him to come back to the negotiating table. Quite pathetic from my viewpoint, but he was prepared to sacrifice everything in the deal which was massively beneficial to us both, because he got his nose put out of joint during one of the tumbles.

Everyone can “girlify” the business we are in and wrap it up in layers of heart rendering emotive language as much as their particular background and frame of reference allows. Of course your PPoR is excluded from my comments above. This is totally different and quite rightly part and parcel of the emotional side of things, where it is your home and not an integral part of business.

In terms of ruthlessness, I’ve seen two completely different reactions for the identical deal. The lady was a millionaire and transacted a “reasonable” deal that both parties were willing to enter into. When reviewed by a novice, the novice thought the lady had been ruthless with the other party…..using their novice frame of reference. The elder uncle with 30 years experience and 20 odd MM of deals under his belt thought she had been taken for a ride and overpaid by between 60 and 70K. With his frame of reference for the identical set of numbers his opinion was the complete opposite of the novice.

In summary, “ruthless” is an emotive term and it is used subjectively depending on who’s goggles you view the world through……same subject…..different goggles —> different viewpoint. Which one is right ?? Probably neither, or probably both….depends which side of the fence you are currently on…..and believe me, there is a fence.

Basil,

Good question, and I think the answer lies in a similar question back to you – would you want someone to act ruthlessly when doing business with you? Generally not I’d imagine.

I feel that respect and empathy are important traits in business and in all areas of life. So I totally agree with Maple on that one.

I also agree with Simon in that you have 3 options, and I’m also with him in that I generally wouldn’t want to entertain the 3rd option. Having said that, as a professional army officer I think I have the “ability” to give as good as I get, but I don’t think it often helps matters.

As an example, I recently called a builder in a small town where I was considering purchasing a property. The builder’s attitude from the start was incredibly rude and arrogant, and so I simply told him that I wasn’t interested in dealing with someone with that kind of attitude, and hung up.

At the end of the day, it didn’t matter if he was the best builder in Australia. If he spoke to me like that at the start, how could I expect him to treat me with courtesy and respect when he was working for me? I think sometimes you just need to go with your gut feeling, and if your gut is telling you bad things then you need to listen!

My business policy is to always act professionally, and to only deal with others who do the same. Sometimes it is difficult to do this when there is a seemingly attractive “reward” for abandoning that policy, but your reputation is more important (in my belief). In fact it is your most valuable asset, and you should guard and protect it no matter what.

I hope that helps somewhat!

Cheers,

Adam

Oasis Finance
for your Vendor Finance solutions
Achieve the Dream!
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“Always let your conscious be your guide” – Jiminy Cricket
(Philospher and trustworthy insect)[exhappy]

Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.au

I evicted a lovely old lady last year from my unit. She really was nice, but it just didn’t make good business sense to have her there, in the end I had to take her to court to get her evicted. Harsh but true.

The real story.
I owned a unit, where I went through a couple of tenants in a short period of time, one even left and continued to pay the rent until the lease expired. Alarm bells were ringing, get onto the agent and find out exactly why the tenants were leaving. It turns out that they had left because of the neighbors next door were too loud and causing trouble in the neighborhood. My property manager was even scared to go there without he 6+ foot son. The neighbor was an elderly lady who just happened to have family that stayed there permanently who were the trouble.

As luck would have it the property came on the market, I was onto it like a fly to you know what. The tenant stopped paying rent the day it went on the market, and had several times been way behind. I had great bargaining power because 1. I knew the true value of the property (not that advertised), 2. I knew that the sellers were older couple living in a retirement home. 3. The tenants were a nightmare and the seller wanted out. I put in what may be called a low ball offer, but I backed it up with facts and previous sales figures offering a quick settlement, I got a bargain buy in the end.

I now own two units in a peaceful block of 4 getting 15% more rent that I was before, saving money on lease fees, and have had 20% Capital Gain in that time.

Why wasn’t this rutheless.
1. Sellers got rid of there problem property,
2. I got a property at a good price.
3. I got stable tenants
4. Existing tenants (not mine) and neighbors are happier.
5. Property Manager is not scared to go to the units.
6. Property Manager is getting better commissions.
7. An older man looking for fully furnished a ground unit has somewhere to stay.

I just hope the old lady moved to a 1 bedroom unit where she can live in peace herself.

Mal

Getting out of your comfort zone, can help you become comfortable

hi all
a very funny thing about business is that I don’t have these problems but maybe thats because I’m ruthless.
I look at a deal and if it doesn’t work for me I throw it in the bin.
if it does then I go after it at the value that I put on it and don’t worry about the seller/vendor that much.
If I get it for the value I put on it or less then I have done a good deal and if the deal is going west then I change the deal to another type jv what ever and get the deal that way.
I would say that I am ruthless if the deal does stack up and I need to get the deal.
I do respect my fows and do not under estimate them but this is a numbers game and I am in it to win.
my deals come from lots different areas and usually have a problem and so to get thru the little problems.
yes you do need to be both tough skined and a relatively tough dealer
in some case very rough when dealing with a project that is going to loss someone alot of money and make you hopefully alot.
there are lots of different types of investors and yes I do respect and understand most of the views in this post but at the end of the day when you work with this type of business every day I would class and I think my accountant would agree if you asked him that yes you do need to be a bit of a barst— some times and you need to take a bat to a lender some times, well I’m the bat carrier and I tell them in no uncertain terms what I want and how it is going to happen.
and do score home runs.
Its not win at all costs but it is win

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