Secrets of Power Negotiating negotiating table to judge your response. You must get on it right away. Later is too late. If you work on their problem, they soon be- lieve that now it's your problem and it's too late to test it for validity. I used to be president of a 28-office real estate company in South- ern California. In real estate we used to get tossed the Hot Potato all the time, such as from the buyer who would come into one of our of- fices and say, "We have only $10,000 to put down." Even in blue-collar areas, that would be a very low down payment. Our real estate agent could possibly work with it, but it would be tough. I would teach the agents to test it for validity right away--to tell the buyers, "Maybe we can work with $10,000. But let me ask you this: If I find exactly the right property for you, in exactly the right neighborhood, the price and terms are fantastic, your family is going to love it, your kids are going to love having their friends over to play, but it takes $15,000 to get in--is there any point in showing it to you or should I just show it to my other buyers?" Once in a great while they would respond, "Don't you speak Eng-