Negotiated Myself into a new Investment Property

You will probably think I am mad. Buying property at a time like this. Well, whatever, I thought you might be interested to hear about the negotiation side of things.

The first part that was interesting is that I offered a price that was 20% lower than the vendor was asking. I was really tickled to find I felt rude about it. As if I was taking advantage. And you know who the vendor was? A bank. Who can be rude to a bank?

The point is, too many women do feel that way. We feel that way because we have been brought up to be twice nice, sugar and spice. We have been brought up to help others, not to grab, not to do anything that will make people think badly of us, and if we think anyone thinks badly of us, we feel terrible!

But business is business, and unless we women get over these feelings, men will continue to make more money than us, get better jobs than us, and it will be our own fault!

Our own fault because we can't help how we were brought up, but we can overcome that socialisation. I am 56 now and I am just beginning to find out about it and overcome it. Of course my age helps - there are some great advantages to getting older ladies, so don't be afraid of it.

So to help your career development, overcome that gender pay gap and make sure you get the job, pay and life you want, start practicing your negotiation skills.

Did I get the property? Yes, but for 15% off not 20%. Looking back, could I have done better? Yup; I am sure I could. But watch this space to see because the next offer is in and this time I will be hard as nails (it's a bank again - they negotiate through agents so it is very hard to negotiate in a principled way).