Some books are timeless. The best ones are those that help you become more successful in some aspect of your life– throughout your life. Even better when they can help you build your real estate business more quickly and with less effort…

Way back in 1981, my father received a copy of the book You Can Negotiate Anything by Herb Cohen. In the 1990’s he passed the copy on to me. Initially, I just stuck in up on a bookshelf to add to my collection. Why would I want to read a book like that was almost two decades old? After all, it must be full of outdated, useless information. And, there it sat for a couple of years…

I started seriously looking for rental properties around 1998. After placing many offers that got rejected over the next couple of years, I started to think that I might never actually get to the point of owning my own property. What I needed from the Sellers (mostly price)– they weren’t looking to give and so the properties just didn’t seem to “work” for me. No matter how we went ’round and ’round the deal always fell through.

Then, one day, I glanced over at the bookshelf and saw my copy of Herb Cohen’s book. What the heck, I figured and decided to finally read it. It was one of the best book reading decisions I’ve ever made.

You Can Negotiate Anything (How To Get What You Want) is an easy, yet powerful read. It takes you from the basics of “what is negotiation” straight through to “negotiating anything, any place.” Not only are the tips invaluable, but the book is full of examples and stories that prove Mr. Cohen’s points and lessons. His premise is that the world we live in is “one giant negotiating table” and that your success in life depends on your interactions with others and how you handle the situations that arise. Most importantly, he shows how just about any situation is negotiable and how to turn even one that seems deadlocked into a negotiation that provides some kind of “win-win” for the parties involved.

I can’t emphasize enough how the book has helped me to successfully negotiate some very difficult deals in both real estate and otherwise. One of the reasons that I think his book is so effective is that he has had literally decades of experience in professional negotiation situations… from mergers and acquisitions to hostage and terrorist negotiations, Arms control negotiations, corporate litigation and even the N.F.L. Football Player’s strike.

With regard to real estate, its applications step far beyond just buying or selling a property. The lessons the book teaches also help in relations with tenants, township officials, attorneys, real estate agents, etc.

You Can Negotiate Anything by Herb Cohen is a must read to help you handle the situations in you life more effectively and run your real estate business better!

Steven Boorstein
http://www.ManageRentalProperty.com/
http://www.HowToBuyRentalProperty.com/