Jim Randel

I was recently with a friend of mine from upstate Connecticut. My friend plays a lot of golf. He believes in leisure. He does not admire my work ethic.

He had been receiving my e-letters and concluded that I spend too much time reading and writing. He felt the need to give me advice.

“Randel, you spend too much time indoors … you need to get out and play more golf.”

Normally I would let that comment slide by but, like most of us, I worry about balance — the decisions we all make as to how to spend our time.

This last year, given the difficulties in the economy in general and the real estate world in particular, I have been working a lot. And so his comments stung me at first.

But then I got angry. The truth is that for me, a good book (which can be read outdoors I should have reminded my dimwit friend) is preferable to a round of 18. And, actually I feel better about myself working over the weekend (especially in these times) than I would if I spent 6 hours playing golf.

But this e-letter is not about golf … or even work. It’s about judgments we make about others.

My friend had no right telling me how to live my life. He has no insight into how my business is doing, who I am helping financially or what I am trying to accomplish with these e-letters. Nor does he have the right to make value judgments for me (by the way, my light-headed friend, I do understand the pleasures of golf but the 15 hours you devote to it every week is in my mind an enormous waste of life).

Oops, I forgot … this is not about golf.

My sense is that many people critique others’ lives because they worry about their own balance. Maybe my friend is actually questioning the balance in his life and, by attacking me, reinforces the decisions he is making.

The reality is that most of us judge others way too much. Unless we are walking in someone else’s shoes, we have no clarity as to what his or her life is like. We have no viewpoint into his or her ambitions, anxieties or agenda. In short, we have to be very cautious about judging others’ lifestyle decisions.

So, my weak-minded, golfer-dude friend, get on with your putting practice … I am going to find a nice shady spot and crack open a book.

Jim Randel is the founder of The Skinny On book series. His first book, The Skinny on the Housing Crisis, was just awarded First Prize in a book competition sponsored by a group of 600 journalists who cover real estate and finance.

Lately I have been blogging about the SNEAKY TRICKS business - about how businesses deceive people. The comments to my posts have been wonderful - with addenda and new ideas to add to my various lists. I was particularly thrilled when one comment suggested:

"This should be an ongoing column at Huff Po wherein reader's comments that seem reasonable and representative could be edited and perhaps consolidated to be included in the next issue of the blog. It would be a great service to readers and a great tool to mobilize efforts for consumer justice."

So, today's post is about real estate brokers. Here is my list of five sneakiest real estate broker tricks (please add to it as you see fit):

1. "Buying listings" - one of their worst tricks is telling a prospective seller just what he or she wants to hear. This generally means pricing a house too high. Why would an agent do that since he/she knows that there is no commission earned until a sale is made? Well the thinking goes "I will get the listing since I tell the seller he can get the highest price ... a month or so in, I will indicate that the market has softened and we need to lower the price." But that month or so can be critical because quick and dramatic price decreases can signal that further price drops are on the way if the house does not sell quickly. It is generally better to price a house correctly right from the start.

2. Conflicted referrals - suggesting that a prospective homebuyer use a particular mortgage broker, lender or house inspector who is likely to direct the homebuyer in ways that may not be in his or her best interest. Rarely, for example, will a house inspector who gets a lot of business from real estate agents have the courage to find deal-breaking problems with a house.

3. Misrepresenting marketing efforts - it seems that every real estate brokerage company "has the best marketing program in the area." But then once a listing is procured, all the promises and representations seem to be forgotten. When I negotiate a listing contract for a seller, I require that brokers identify with some specificity the kind of marketing program they are going to undertake and the dollars they will be spending.

4. Taking advantage of naive buyers - I go nuts when a young couple comes into town and, a little naive, takes their broker's advice at face value. Recently a couple down the street from me, just in another state, paid the listing price on a house that should have sold for about 25% less than listing. Trusting their agent, the couple was out about $250,000 in real estate value the day they closed.

5. Less than full disclosure - the classic example (an actual lawsuit) is a young couple who bought a house for what seemed like a "steal," until they found out that it had been the site of a triple homicide and was considered haunted. The poor couple could not sell three years later as it seemed they were the only ones who were not aware of the house's history. Legislation in most states has addressed this situation (now brokers have to disclose material events) but making sure that all brokers give full disclosure is not always easy to accomplish.

By the way, I am not suggesting that all brokers pull these tricks! In my experience, many are honest, forthright and desirous of helping their customers. But, like in any profession, there are some who play by a different set of rules.

Jim Randel is the founder of The Skinny On book series - entertaining, quick reads that speak to financial topics and chicanery.

You can also read this entry on the Huffington Post

Last week a friend of mine asked me to review his son's resume. His son is graduating college next month and trying to get a job. Since I know people in the business his son is interested in, he also thought I might be of some assistance (and I will try).

The resume was by-the-book and well prepared. But nothing about it jumped off the page. I tried to communicate to my friend's son that his resume needed to reach out from the page and grab the reader by the throat.

And it occurred to me that what I was really saying to this young man was "NOBODY CARES." Now I don't mean that in the super harsh way that it may sound. People do care about each other, of course. But, in business people only care about what can help them AND that presumes you can even get their attention.

Similarly, when I am speaking to young entrepreneurs who think they have the greatest idea ever I want to remind them that NOBODY CARES. Invented the better mousetrap? OK, let's say you have. Now, how are you going to tell people about it? Do you have lots and lots of dollars for marketing and PR? And how are you going to convince cynical consumers that your mousetrap really does what you say it does? And finally how are you going to get people's attention in the first place? Given that we are all bombarded with ads and come-on's and solicitations and distractions day in and day out, how in the world are you going to get people to pay attention to you?

That is why I tell young entrepreneurs - or anyone starting a new business or writing a book or running for office or just plain sticking their neck out - NOBODY CARES. I then go on to say that what I mean is that in order to get people to care, you need to be different and loud and hard working and helpful and entertaining ... and get a little lucky too.

There are no short-cuts today. All that stuff went the way of the housing boom. People today are frugal and cautious and wiser than they were just a few years ago. Today, in order to succeed at whatever you are doing, you need to grab your customer by the lapels, tell them what you do, do it better than anyone else can do it, and then hope they like what you did.

I'm not sure if this is good or bad - it just is.

NOTE: The publishers of Randel's book, The Skinny on the Housing Crisis (2009) would like to congratulate him on the selection of this book as "Book of the Year" by an association of 650 journalists writing about housing, business and finance. The award will be made in Washington, D.C. on June 20.

I have been an entrepreneur my entire business life. There are good parts and bad parts. But, for me, the good far outweigh the bad.

Whether you work for yourself or not, it is my view that you need to always think like an entrepreneur. Here are ten suggestions as to how to do that:

1. If you have an employer, do not rely on your job security. Whoever he or she is, your employer is presently or will at some time be under pressure to cut costs. You may be one of those costs.

2. If you have an employer, make yourself indispensable. A buddy of mine joined a large law firm. He asked his boss what the time frame was to make partner. His boss said: "You will make partner if and when your client base or unique expertise makes it more economical for us to keep you than lose you."

3. Constantly add value to YOU, INC. - the aggregate of skills, contacts and education you bring to any party. A lifelong program of learning and networking is your greatest financial security.

4. Kill for your customers. These people are paying for your lifestyle.

5. Outwork your competition. There are plenty of people who can do what you do.

6. Do not expect your clients or customers to use you because of a personal relationship. Many of my clients are friends but I do not want to rely on their business because of our relationship. I want to rely on their business because I am giving them the best service available.

7. Anticipate change. I don't know many entrepreneurs who sleep soundly at night. They know that what is working today may or may not work tomorrow. So, they are always thinking (worrying?) about what is coming around the bend.

8. Keep your eye on costs. When times are good many of us spend as if the good times will never stop. Then when the world changes quickly - as it often does - we are caught with too much overhead or not enough capital.

9. Time is your enemy. Every day young talented people enter the workforce. The world is changing with increasing speed and that means energy, enthusiasm and creativity are more important than experience. You need to run as fast as you can so that the younger and stronger do not catch you.

10. Find courage to make a change if you are marking time. The reason most people become entrepreneurs is that they want to pursue a desired endeavor. If you are not engaged in (passionate about) what you are doing, the likelihood of success is slim.

Jim Randel is the author of The Skinny On books, a series about financial literacy and personal achievement. To take our "Financial Smarts Challenge," e-mail and ask for a copy ... anyone who gets 90% should be very pleased with himself or herself. Also for a shorter quiz on your Credit Card knowledge try our “Are you Credit Card Savvy?” quiz on Facebook.

Over the last year I have read every book or article I could find on the subjects of willpower and self-discipline. As we entered challenging economic times, I felt that an understanding of how people dealt with adversity would be important.

Here is what I have concluded:

All of willpower and self-discipline is about an understanding of how your mind works. Willpower is really just a manifestation of focus and here are the five steps you need to understand in order to improve your focus:

1. Awareness - during stressful times you need to listen to your thoughts. What exactly is going on in your mind when you are feeling challenged?

2. Treat thoughts as things - one of the best-selling books ever written about success is titled Think & Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill. This book (only partly about money) advocates for treating thoughts as tangible objects which can be moved in and out of your mind.

3. Understand the clutter - your mind is bombarded with thoughts and impulses throughout the day. Freud described the mind as “an arena, a sort of tumbling ground for the struggle of antagonistic impulses.” The goal is to give life to the positive thoughts and eject the negative ones.

4. You are not your thoughts - someone is hearing your thoughts. That someone is you - there is a separation between the genesis of thought, and the hearing of the thought. You control that gap. As Eckhart Tolle wrote: “When you listen to a thought, you are aware of yourself as a witness to the thought. The thought then loses its power over you.”

5. Dominant thoughts - your mind can only process one dominant thought at a time. By ejecting from your mind (thoughts are things) negativism, and replacing it with a positive dominant thought, you control what goes on in your mind. The martial
artist, Bruce Lee, would actually write negative thoughts on a piece of paper and then set it on fire to emphasize this process.

The root of willpower is focus - keeping your mind where it needs to be. Those who develop this talent are bound to achieve a high level of success. Here is a quote I like from a yogi named Eknath Easwaren who wrote Strength in the Storm:

“We live where our attention is … complete concentration is the secret of genius in any field.”

Jim Randel is the founder and co-author of The Skinny On™ series. His most recent book The Skinny On Credit Cards: How to Master the Credit Card Game is available at www.TheSkinnyOn.com.