Over the course of 3 years I have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on architects and engineers for my development projects. However, also in the course of these 3 years in a series of 5 minute emails, 3 minute conversations, or even just 30 second texts, I have saved over $100,000! How did I do that you ask?

Think of it this way. The architect wants to charge me $20,000 for a project. I spend five minutes writing, drafting, and sending an email explaining I’m willing to spend $15,000. As a result, the architect lowers his fees to $16,000. That means in just the 5 minutes it took me to write that email, I saved $4,000. This is called negotiating and you should use it for everything.

As a realtor, a huge part of my job is negotiating deals on behalf of my clients. Right? Everything’s a negotiation in real estate, so this is something I am really comfortable with – but real estate isn’t the only place I use negotiating. I’ve used negotiating in small deals for as long as I can remember.

You can incorporate negotiating into your daily life. Like say you’re planning a wedding – you can negotiate while you hire your venue, photographer, and even DJ. You can even negotiate down your credit card debt, or negotiate with your boss for a raise. I know it seems intimidating to try and negotiate for a raise, or try and negotiate a deal for a lower cost, but the most important thing to remember is that the worse that can happen is the person says no, and if that’s the case, go find someone who will say yes – they’re always out there.