Posts by Author: Melani Seymour

“I don’t want my name coming off the building.” I have heard that sentence more times than any question about money. It usually arrives late in a conversation, almost apologetically, as though caring about it were unserious. It is not unserious. For a lot of owners it is the actual obstacle, and it is one…

The most valuable conversation I have is also the one that generates no fee for anybody. An owner calls, says they are thinking about selling in three or four years, and asks what they should be doing now. Then they wait, slightly embarrassed, as though they have called too early. They have called at exactly…

He negotiated for eleven weeks and won most of it. Better price, more cash at closing, a shorter commitment than the first draft. Fourteen months later he called me on a Tuesday afternoon, which I remember because he was calling from his car in his own parking lot, between patients, and he did not sound…