Real Estate Negotiation Strategies Every Investor Should Know

Debbie Boman (00:00)
It’s the same in poker. You can look at your hand and you have an ace and a king and my gosh, that’s a beautiful hand. But if the cards that have turned over on the flop and the turn in the river, doesn’t matter how beautiful the cards are, if they don’t match, you’re not a winner. So being able to do the same thing as an investor, ⁓ my gosh, this is a great area, but the home’s overpriced or it needs too much rehab, the numbers don’t line up, let it go.

That’s when you fold. And when you learn how to fold, it takes all the emotion out of it and it just makes it a business. And that’s when you get successful. And it might not be that minute because you let that go, but over time, it’s how you win.

Scott Bursey (02:13)
Welcome back to the Investor Fuel Real Estate Show. I’m your host, Scott Bursey. And today we’re joined by Debbie Boman of Advisors at Compass. Debbie isn’t just your standard Luxury Real Estate advisor. She brings an absolute edge to the table that few can match. She’s translated the high stakes discipline of the poker table, reading people, managing risk, and making calculated decisions with imperfect information.

into a master class of Luxury Real Estate service. Pros you can expect to learn how to sharpen your own decision making and negotiation game by applying the mindset of a pro player to your deals. Debbie, welcome to the show.

Debbie Boman (02:52)
Thank you, Scott, I appreciate it. I’m so excited to be here.

Scott Bursey (02:54)
It’s awesome to have you here and to help our listeners get up to speed. Please, if you would, give us the front row seat on how your career ignited and where you’re pouring your fuel now.

Debbie Boman (03:05)
I’ve been a real estate agent for about six years. made a a switch in COVID, like a lot of us did. And I love what I do. I love helping people find their dream home investors, find their investments that make them profits. But right now, my my love and my passion along with that is I discovered poker about a year ago, and it has been

pun intended, a game changer, ⁓ in my confidence, in my negotiation skills, in my ability to actually listen and pay attention to people, gather information and make quick and important decisions.

Scott Bursey (03:48)
Well, absolutely. And that is quite fascinating. You know, what really caught my attention about you, Debbie, was the way that you’ve been able to take the intense strategic intuition, if you will, that you have honed over the last year or so at the poker table and turn that into, you know, dominance in the Luxury Real Estate market, even climbing higher than you have in years past. That is just the gold standard in my book.

Debbie Boman (05:04)
Well, what has really made the difference is we all know the market is challenging and deals seem to be failing as much as they are succeeding. So having poker build my confidence, meeting people, connecting with people, that confidence is definitely spilled into my ability to help.

buyers and sellers make the best decisions and be clear quickly what’s the best direction to go.

Scott Bursey (05:38)
absolutely. And that makes a lot of sense. Debbie, curious to know, what is the biggest strength from poker that gives you an unfair advantage when you’re sitting across the table from a tough luxury seller?

Debbie Boman (05:53)
⁓ I’m going to tell you my personal part of that. poker is generally well, let’s say only 10% of poker players are women. So to have that unique ability to sit at the table and feel confident with a group of men and hold my own and know I’m actually playing pretty good is huge. ⁓ I don’t play for super high stakes, ⁓ I play for fun.

I look at it not as gambling, ⁓ but as a game and to be strategic. And I was telling you earlier, in all honesty, you are folding 70, 80% of the time. That creates patience, that creates ⁓ risk management. You know, when is when is a a good time to go and calculate that math?

quickly and know, you know, is the pot, what is what chips do I have, all of that. I was also telling you the average poker hand is only two minutes. So in that short amount of time, you’re making 10 to 20 choices, decisions that are a financial risk or profit. And you and people are looking at you and waiting for you to hurry and make that choice. So it’s really empowering. I love it.

Scott Bursey (07:09)
And I love that. And Debbie, this is the question that all of our pros wanna know. How do you identify a bluff in a negotiation?

Debbie Boman (07:19)
That’s a really good question. I love it’s probably the same as in poker. You can read signs. There are tales in a conversation.

Scott Bursey (07:21)
Mm-hmm.

Debbie Boman (07:30)
Being able to filter what they’re saying and what they truly mean and what’s truly possible. I mean, if you on a poker table, if you’re looking at the cards, you’re trying to quickly calculate, you only have so many bets that are gonna win, so many cards that are gonna come, and applying that to your negotiation, what how many choices do they really have that are profitable? It’s it’s fascinating.

Scott Bursey (07:56)
That’s some powerful stuff right there. And Debbie, if you could help us understand, how do you handle the emotional swings when a multi-million dollar deal hits an unexpected roadblock?

Debbie Boman (08:08)
Honestly, I can this is where poker really comes in handy. You know, they talk about a poker face. And I when I first started, ⁓ I was not a poker face. In fact, mm, the dealer that we play with all the time would tell me I was blending. I had this look of confusion and like, my gosh, what am I gonna do? ⁓ blending all the choices. Now, and the

People that I play with are surprised how well I can control that and how they can’t tell whether I’m bluffing, whether I’m playing. And I feel like that spills in when I’m talking to a seller on behalf of a buyer or the seller’s agent, more likely, and giving away just enough to tease them to know where they sit, but not every, you know, not showing your whole hand.

Scott Bursey (08:56)
What is your personal routine to stay emotionally disciplined when things aren’t going your way?

Debbie Boman (09:02)
Say as little as possible and listen and pay attention to what everyone else is doing.

Scott Bursey (09:07)
That is excellent perspective. And I’ve been wondering in today’s luxury market, what data you know, that can be messy, what are you seeing the biggest untapped opportunity for investors in that data to create value right now?

Debbie Boman (09:57)
Honestly, and I think most places are similar. I’m in Austin. It is a a ⁓ buyer’s market, and there our homes are sitting, and you sellers have sellers fatigue. They just want to be done. They’re tired of having to clean their house or pay two mortgages or whatever that is. we hear more buy downs than we have for a long time, and sellers will often pay for that buy down.

So you get a couple three years of a lower interest rate to get into the home. And I I this is me with my crystal ball, but I really do feel like in a couple of years, interest rates are gonna be a little bit more beneficial for us. So to get in the home now, while you the prices are not gonna go down too much more. There is always equity being to be made. So to get in now and build that for when you can refinance, when you have a better interest rate, I

I truly believe that is where we are. Take advantage of the buyer’s market.

Scott Bursey (10:56)
Is there a specific asset class you’re currently looking to double down on?

Debbie Boman (11:00)
That’s really interesting. ⁓ Austin is a little bit higher price point. ⁓ if if you look at statistics, they’ll tell you around 500,000 is the average. And that would be the suburbs around Austin, but Austin itself, a million is probably more where you are. I’m often in a 2 million to 2.5 million dollar home. ⁓

And to be able to afford that can be challenging, but we have a lot of tech. And again, people have equity that they’ve built from their homes before that they’re now applying to either downsize, upsize. As an investor, again, pick one of those homes that’s been on the market for 120 days, maybe needs a little love. There we have a lot of those homes that need a little bit of love.

And ⁓ buyers right now don’t want they don’t want to deal with that. They wanna walk in ready, they don’t wanna deal with refinanc or remodeling. Sometimes you’re even hesitant about painting because they don’t know the costs that are involved with that and they’ve heard horror stories. So yeah, that’s definitely an area that can can be better tapped into.

Scott Bursey (12:14)
Thank you for highlighting that. And Debbie, this is a must know. When you’re dealing with imperfect information, what is the biggest risk or threat you see investors ignoring today?

Debbie Boman (12:25)
The numbers. The numbers never lie.

It’s j if it’s the same in poker. You can look at your hand and you have an ace and a king and my gosh, that’s a beautiful hand. But if the cards that have turned over on the flop and the turn in the river, doesn’t matter how beautiful the cards are, if they don’t match, you’re not a winner. So being able to do the same thing as an investor, ⁓ my gosh, this is a great area, but the home’s overpriced or it needs too much rehab, the numbers don’t line up, let it go.

That’s when you fold. And when you learn how to fold, it takes all the emotion out of it and it just makes it a business. And that’s when you get successful. And it might not be that minute because you let that go, but over time, it’s how you win.

Scott Bursey (13:09)
Again, we’re looking at the data spot on. And Debbie, you know, we’re looking for clarity on your decision making process. How do you weigh the risk versus reward when the data is conflicting?

Debbie Boman (13:22)
That’s an interesting question. We can sometimes buy data to support anything, right? ⁓ that’s why you need to do your own research or have a agent or a professional that can actually not that can tap into the actual MLS or the actual datas or have team members, insurance, that kind of thing that can really ⁓ fine-tune those numbers. Insurance has become a

big deal right now. taxes in different areas and often Austin have different taxes. You need to be aware of that. That’s huge. And ⁓ I think a lot of areas are paying attention to the tax burden. And if you know some relief just came in. Texas has a over sixty five break for people. There’s a

Being your own home benefit, second there are some second homes. there’s a lot of different choices, but looking into that and being aware of what that is, so many people don’t even know that tax benefits there. And they’re not gonna knock on your door and say, Hey, you’re not claiming that. You just have to be aware of it. So yeah.

Scott Bursey (14:31)
Debbie, for you, what is your go to mental check before you commit to your client’s capital?

Debbie Boman (15:18)
What is my go-to check? That is a really, that’s a really good question.

Listening. There’s a lot of people, myself included, that got caught up in that ⁓ post-COVID frenzy. And a lot of us made choices based on what everyone was doing in FOMO. And then at the end of the day, it maybe wasn’t that wise of a choice. So people are a little bit hesitant right now. So making sure is this really what you want? When you say you want

Four bedrooms, do you really mean five because you need an office? Most people, four is just not enough anymore because people are working from home. And being aware of if you’re buying a home, look five years down the road. As an investor, same thing. Three twos are for a certain person. Why not have a four three and expand that a little bit and give you more flexibility?

Scott Bursey (16:12)
I love that. Have that in-depth conversation and then listen. That is pure gold. What does your professional network look like right now?

Debbie Boman (16:23)
I love meeting people. I am let’s meet for coffee all the time. I love that. just had coffee with a a guy who runs a roofing company. You can never have enough of those kind of people in in your network. But I like I ⁓ I have this poker community that I am really enjoying and networking with. ⁓ we’ve leaned into the the woman side of it, but there are men, we play once a month with the men.

And it it brings a different dynamic that I just love. And it and we we do in different areas. We have some up in Georgetown, mid ⁓ Austin and then southern Austin. So we’re in different areas at different times. And we also take classes. So we’re not just playing poker, but we’re studying and do being strategic together. And that kind of a bond and community, I I’m just so happy about it.

Scott Bursey (17:13)
It’s powerful. That networking is so powerful. And you have really given our pros some powerful information today, Debbie. But is there any other advice you’d like to leave with them?

Debbie Boman (17:27)
recommend everyone start playing poker. You I mean maybe there’s not a poker community wherever you are, but you can play online. And that’s you you might not get the connection part of it, but you’re getting the skills. And it doesn’t cost you can play for five, 10 bucks and and learn this is watch YouTube videos of how people are the pros are making decisions and choices. ⁓ and if you’re ever in Austin, I would I will set up a poker game for you anytime.

Scott Bursey (17:53)
That is tremendous. Thank you for that, Debbie. And for those of our listeners that want to keep this conversation moving, stay in your lane or collaborate with you. What is the best way for them to reach you?

Debbie Boman (18:05)
a girlsplaypokeratx instagram i also have ⁓ my real estate side of it which is deb D E B .boman B O M A N so deb.boman is my instagram and i will i’m on that all the time i’ll definitely dm i’ll i’ll reach out to you

Scott Bursey (18:21)
That is very good, reachable information. And Debbie, thank you so much for joining us today.

Debbie Boman (18:30)
Thank you so much for having me. It’s it’s a topic I love talking about.

Scott Bursey (18:33)
And to our listeners, we appreciate you. If you receive value from today’s episode, please subscribe. We’ll be filling your tanks with a lineup of elite guests, just like Debbie Boman, who are accelerating and setting the pace for the rest of the industry. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you on the next episode, everyone.