Donald Trump can be hated and loved by many. I am not going to turn this into a political discussion in any way. But love it or hate it, there are traits that (especially in its early years) can teach you lessons in becoming a better real estate/mobile home investor.

I noticed some interesting things about him when my wife and I watched a couple of episodes of a Trump documentary series on Netflix.

Of course, all documentaries are biased in nature, but this one (surprisingly) skewed in favor of Trump.

Regardless of his political position and his view of Trump, the man was a dealmaker.

Especially in his youth, when he was less of a jerk to others (I mean his insults and attacks… which are quite funny when you see them).

Anyway, this is how he operated when he was first buying buildings (at least from what I see of his first success: the Grand Hyatt Hotel):

– Contacted the owner of a non-functioning commercial building

– Negotiated a high price (the owner was motivated)

– I knew at what price to buy it

– You made a good deal with the owner.

– He called the investors (he had no money to buy it)

– Negotiated with the city for a 40-year tax break (imagine the annual taxes you’d have to pay on a billion-dollar building in New York?)

– Negotiation with contractors.

– He never faltered in his view of the hotel.

– He hired the best people for the position (he even hired a woman [gasp!] to the position of chief engineer… and this woman was a tough cookie.

– Made the project 7 years.

– Became the hotel building expert (closing niches is probably one of the best things you can do as a real estate investor)

Anyway, that’s a lot like how people make deals in the SFR business…or even the mobile home business. No matter how big or small, there is a lot of “negotiation” going on behind the scenes. Making deals is a learned skill. Trump learned it from his father (Fred Trump) when he worked in his father’s commercial apartment business.

“Making deals” is just what I described earlier… the art of the deal… that Trump was excellent at. So getting better at “making deals” starts with a few traits Trump was all too familiar with:

1. He stood his ground (did not allow the city to intimidate him into ignoring his original tax-exempt agreement with him)

2. He had a huge network of resources (He went out of his way to make himself known)

3. Knew more about the topic than the other (having the previous experience in the smaller commercial space helped)

4. He had powerful people behind him (the lawyer he had was the most feared lawyer in NY representing the mob)… having someone behind you to guide you is a great help in structuring a good real estate deal.