The Truth Can Run Around Naked!

David is a real estate investor from the Northeast. Many folks don’t know this, but “Northeast” is a Latin word that means: Where’d you get that Yankee accent? Honestly, even though I went to college up north, I only understood half of what came out of David’s mouth. Don’t know about you, but Yankee talk hurts my ears!

He came down to beautiful Dixie because he wanted me to watch him negotiate with sellers. The thing was, even though David has been reading our column, he wasn’t having much success working out win-win deals at sellers’ kitchen tables.

During our time together, we met with six sellers and made six written offers. By any measure, it was a successful day. One other important thing happened: By the time David finished making his second offer, I had discovered his problem…actually his two problems – and boy were they doozies! No wonder he was having trouble getting deals.

At the first seller’s house, when we got to the kitchen table, David talked about himself for twenty-five minutes. On and on he went – bragging about his greatness and business conquests. This first problem could easily be fixed with a roll of duct tape – also known as Alabama chrome!

What David was telling sellers was the root of his second problem – and the problem that needed immediate attention! He told the first seller that he’d been investing for fourteen years, he bought fifteen properties a month, and he owned over one hundred rental homes.

David told the second that he’d been investing for sixteen years, he bought twenty properties a month, and he owned fifty rentals plus three apartment buildings.

Truth was, David had only been investing for three years, was doing four deals a year, owned only one rental home, and didn’t have any apartment buildings. Bottom line: When David was talking to sellers, he was lying through his teeth!

After meeting with the second seller, we took a Coke break. I asked David why he thought it was necessary to be a bald-faced liar. Amazingly, he said he was trying to build credibility! He wanted the seller to believe that he was a seasoned investor with a lot of experience so the seller would be more likely to accept his offer.

I asked David to use his iPhone to look up the word credibility. He did. It said: The quality of being believable or worthy of trust. I asked, “Do you really feel that lying is the key to being believable and trustworthy?” David hung his head. He understood the lesson.

I explained to David that we have a saying in the South: A lie has to hide, but the truth can run around naked.

David was straight up with the next four sellers. In addition, he barely talked about himself. Instead, he focused on asking sellers lots of questions so he could best understand their real estate problems.

Folks, the foundation of every deal you do is TRUST. This is a good lesson to always remember!

Oh, it turned out that David was the best kind of Yankee. Instead of staying in, or threatening to move to Georgia, he willingly returned to the Northeast!