The Bullard Houses free essay sample

â€Å"The Bullard Houses† is a case in which Downtown, a corporation formed by James Bullard’s descendants, is seeking for a buyer for the site that has been saved by Downtown from destruction. The reason behind this potential deal is because Downtown is in a great cash shortage. There are two parties current interested in this site, including Absentia, the client I as a senior partner in Jones Jones represent for. The resulting negotiation between the representative of Downtown and me covers a couple of issues, such as primarily the price of the Bullard Houses and the use of it, etc. Yan Ma, the representative of Downtown, started off by raising Downtown’s concerns about the future use of the Bullard Houses. Instead of mentioning about their current financial situation, Yan repeatedly questioned me about the purpose for which Absentia was going to acquire the site. From my prospective, I didn’t have the authority to reveal to anyone the real purpose, which is to building a high-rise hotel in the garden area. We will write a custom essay sample on The Bullard Houses or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Hence, I made much effort in an attempt to get around this question.Nevertheless, she mentioned that the only way she could continue this negotiation was to know the intended use of the site because her clients bought the property in the hope that their ancestors’ heritage can be protected from being destroyed. With no rout of retreat, I chose to reveal that Milton Hotel Group wishes to build a hotel but to keep the exterior appearance as it was at the moment. Yan surprisingly seemed not opposed with Milton’s projection. Frankly speaking, I did not quite understand why she agreed to move on to the next issue after hearing a high-rise hotel will be built and the interior of the Bullard House will be redesigned as the lobby of the hotel. With this big issue being solved, we soon reached a final deal of a total price of $18. 5 million in which $13 million would be paid up front and the remaining $5. 5 million would be paid by installment within one and a half years. On top of that, the option for Downtown to buy at least one unit in the Bullard Houses was offered and thus we sealed the deal.As I review the whole negotiation process now, I admit I was in a very passive position at the beginning. By passive, I mean I could not react to Yan’s questions for the planned use of the site in a way I should have. She pointed out a few problems that her clients do not want to see after the Bullard Houses site was handed over. For instance, she mentioned that James Bullard’s descendents felt like the taste of the building, regardless of whether the exterior or the interior, being remained as it was at the moment, and in addition, they were opposed to high-rise non-residential use of the site.I, afterwards, interpreted all these questions as her additional chips in hand for the later discussion about the price since she could raise the price for that I admitted my client couldn’t meet one or two of their requests. As I mentioned earlier, I had no choice but to disclose the intended use of the site in order to keep the negotiation moving on. After knowing my client’s plan, her previous standpoint against high-rise non-residential use of the site diminished somehow.I was aware of the change in her reaction instantly, which inspired me to think she might have betrayed her clie nt’s interest of keeping the building style unchanged and not allowing non-residential use of the site as well such that she could continue the negotiation and hopefully seal the deal. On the issue of the price, I made the first offer of $17 million that was well below my reservation price. Along with the offer, I stated my own opinion towards the current financial situation of Downtown just to reemphasize how crucial cash was for them.As it was mentioned in the case, I have the authority to offer a maximum of $24 million for the property. I automatically assumed it could all be cash payment. With the help of this big advantage, what Yan mentioned about the other party’s willing to offer $20 million within which we both knew cash payment wouldn’t by any chance exceed our offer was no longer charming. The final price was settled at $18. 5 million after a series of concessions were asked and given by both parties.In conclusion, the outcome was very favorable from my perspective since we needed to pay way less than the price we expected for the most desirable site we had been looking for. As I review it now, this is a distributive negotiation with one primary issue that both parties want to get the best deal on. However, I had an advantage of the availability of cash, which again is what my opponent was lacking of. Hence, the only strategy I adopted in the negotiation was simply to find my opponent’s weakness and to act aggressively on the issue associated with the weakness.After continuously attacking their weakness with my advantage in payment methods as well as giving some concessions, I successfully created an illusion that the price and options I offered was approaching my reservation price such that her further effort of pushing the price even high could eventually make me walk away. This was something she did not want to see from her own perspective as, I will discuss later in detail, that she already put her client’s interest second and her goal was to get the deal. Of necessity, this simple strategy worked out well.The key to this strategy is a lways to match my opponent’s needs with my advantages. As far as I’m concerned, two factors actually have had a big impact on the process of the negotiation. One factor is my leak of the intended use of the Bullard Houses site. The other one is her personal acceptance of my client’s projection for the property. The negotiation should have been interrupted, which did not happen, because of any of these two events. Both of Yan and me have made essential mistakes to more or less satisfy our own interests rather than our client’s.On one hand, I should’ve stated â€Å"sorry, I cannot reveal the planned use of the property for competitive purposes† or called it off when I confronted with Yan’s questions. On the other hand, Yan should have rejected my client’s proposal without any thinking because we all knew that even if I promised you not to change the exterior or interior of the Bullard Houses, the style of the hotel would not be exactly as promised. The message I get from these two mistakes we made is that sometimes no deal is a good deal when you and your client’s interests are not aligned.Moreover, an agent has the responsibility to confirm instructions or call it off when he or she has to violate their instructions. As a principal, he or she needs to confirm their priorities or call it off when the best offer violates their core objective. All in all, I learned a lot from this negotiation experience because both of my opponent and myself made mistakes. I now understand that being honest doesn’t mean I have to violate my client’s instructions. More importantly, agents’ own interest should never be above their client’s. These two rules apply to any kind of negotiation.