Principle and Principal are easily confused.

It doesn’t help that they are homophones, which means they sound alike. Here’s a guide to what they mean and how you can tell them apart.

Principle

The word principle means a standard, a law or a rule. This means you can have:

• the principles of economics, which are the laws that govern economic theory
• moral principles, which are the rules and standards that govern your behavior

Principal

The word principal usually refers to a person. Remember that it ends in ‘pal’, which is a person. A principal can be:

• the head of a school
• the head of an organization
• the main person involved in a contract or financial negotiation

Putting It All Together
If you remember that principal is a person, then you can easily make sense of this sentence:

The principal taught us the first principle of social responsibility.

Principals Only in the Subject Line of Haves and Wants

Agents Only, etc.

There is a solution for these situations.

Understanding why can help you deal with it and make money.

This causes frustration for some in the industry. Learn on this page the reasons why others do this. And then learn how to deal with it. Properties up to $75M have been sold convincing people that the information placed on ICIWorld is real, they have a real buyer, etc.

Information is the gold on the Internet.

Sometimes you have to dig through a little dirt to get to the gold.

Gardeners love dirt. They plant and grow beautiful flowers. Builders love dirt because on the land they build beautiful homes and buildings.

In a newspaper you will sometimes see a real estate broker advertising a property with the words Principals Only.

There are a few reasons why real estate brokers do this. 

There are also ways to approach these brokers and work with them to do business.

This is a free market enterprise service of information and much of it confidential. One great thing about ICIWorld is all this information is filtered through the hands of licensed real estate brokers and salespeople since they are the members. The public can not join ICIWorld. They can post in Database 2 FSBO area, but it is only the broker members who can read their contact information.

Licensed real estate brokers and salespeople have responsibilities on how they conduct themselves according the various licensing bodies in each state in the USA and each province in Canada such as RECO in Ontario. There is protection for the public provided by members of NAR and CREA and standards, and codes of conduct and ethics. Most companies also have their own standards as well to serve the public.

There is a lot of money to be made finding the right property for the right buyer and . . . at the right time. There is a saying, you don’t know what you don’t know. So true here. You can easily be missing doing a deal and not even realize it.

And if you are a broker who has confidential information and you only call a few people you know, then to all intents and purposes you are a secret agent. You are not using the power of the Internet and ICIWorld designed to maximize your opportunities to find the right match.

And if you are an owner and only shop your property to a few people, how can you know you have not achieved the hightest and best price and terms? There is a way to do it confidentially.

Timing is everything. Isn’t it better to find out about real estate opportunities to do business that not find out about them at all.

ICIWorld is an industry leader in providing these tips, exclusive opportunities not found any where else in such a large fashion with 50-150 new listings coming in daily. But there is a competent and professional way to handle this information that members learn upon joining.

The bottom line in this or any business is still one of developing good business relationships with others. If you are going to make a $50,000 commission selling a property, should you at least not meet with the cooperating broker over lunch, a coffee and establish a good business relationship.

Brokers can work all year long and some work years to get themselves trained and in a position to make a large sale. The money made can put kids through school, so there is a lot at stake. And then to have the person go behind their back? To prevent this one a good idea is to establish a good relationship with the other broker. After all you will be splitting a substantial amount of money with them.

One of the benefits of joining a CCIM Chapter for instance is the networking that goes on between members, where you can have a certain element of trust and integrity and expertise in dealing with each other. In one survey, we found that 65% of the members of the chapter did deals with other members of the chapter. I should know. I have been the Membership Chairman of a CCIM Chapter for years. And this goes for all CCIM Chapters in the world.

Keep in mind a great deal of information on ICIWorld is not listed but agreements have to be put in place first before showing a property or identifying it. You must protect you sources. It is like protecting money in the bank.

If an owner says, I do not want to give you a listing but I will pay you a commission, this is an opportunity you can handle when trained properly.

Here are several reasons why brokers say principals only in ads and how to handle these situations when you have a buyer:

1. Principals have instructed them for confidential purposes.Can’t trust other brokers even after instructing them to keep it confidential. Sometimes right after pledging to keep things confidential, a real estate broker returns to their office only to tell someone in their office a certain property is for sale thereby causing problems which were not intended.

   It can be bad for business for instance if customers, employees know that a business is for sale. So confidentiality has to be respected.

   Possible Solution: Reinforce the fact that you will respect the confidentiality and sign any agreements necessary to ensure that.

   Brokers should build up a database of people and keep notes on whether you feel you can work with others without a signed agreement in place. Better yet, have listing agreements. But this is not always possible.

   Other solutions: get agreements signed by the buyer.

2. They have asked another broker for permission to advertise it and will only make money if they sell it themselves;No one likes daisy chains of brokers advertising other brokers listings. However the original broker is to a certain extent a secret agent and many times with very limited marketing abilities compared to members of ICIWorld on the Internet.

   So our member gets permission from the other broker to advertise it in the hopes to get his own prospect buyer to buy it. In the Control Option when entering listings there is a choice that says Thru Other Broker. It may be a little frustrating but so is business. The member on ICIWorld is providing a great service because this one tip of this proper for sale can make the difference of doing a deal and not doing a deal. So how should the broker in the middle be compensated. After all he joined ICIWorld and spent money and took his time, care and attentiong to get a real estate license and he sees one person challenged to sell a property and our member knows he has the networking power to find the buyer. And then when he advertises it with permission, another broker who has a buyer calls him for more details.

   Possible Solution: The broker who advertises it on ICIWorld should identify that it is Thru Other Broker in the Control option in the message on ICIWorld. That way other professionals in the business know ahead of time what they are dealing with and they can choose not to deal with it or deal with it.

   Possible Solution: Offer a small referral fee if successful. A broker does not make money servicing another brokers listing unless you offer a small referral if you are successful.

3. They have been burned by cooperating with other brokers to only lose a deal when the broker goes around behind their back and tries to deal direct.  They are sick and tired of dealing with unscrupulous brokers.  They just do not trust other real estate salespeople.Possible Solution: Reinforce the fact you will respect the confidentiality and sign any agreements necessary to ensure that and pledge your confidentiality.

   Buyers should insist their broker go talk to the other broker if that is a property you feel will really interest you. Get that broker to overcome the problems of mistrust. Get your brokers of record, managers of the office involved if necessary to help.

   Do a referral. Residential brokers who have the buyer in many cases are happy to simply receive a referral. Selling a gas station or a business can be very complicated and time consuming. So doing a referral could work. Listing brokers should give consideration that it can be a close family friend of the selling broker or a family member of that selling broker.

4. There is a lot of work that has to be done to sell a hotel or gas station for instance. Along comes a residential salesperson who knows nothing about how to sell one of these types. So the listing agent has to do basically all the work yet has to split a commission 50/50.  They get fed up doing all the work only to have to split 50/50.Possible Solution: Discuss alternative commission splits.

   Possible Solution: If a person is a residential salesperson he/she could simply send the broker his prospect and receive a referral fee.

   Possible Solution: Get paid by the buyer.  That way to all intents and purposes you are the principal. The other broker does not have to split a commission with you.

5. Some owners want to know a little more about the buyer first because they suspect it could be their competition who is enquiring. Competitors sometimes want the Profit and Loss Statements with no intention to buy, only to use the information for competitive purposes;
6. And if you feel anyone is placing information on ICIWorld that is not real please call me and let me know.

If anyone has a problem dealing with someone please feel free to call me and I can try to help.

If you are going to make $50,000, $100,000+ commmissions with another broker, it stands to reason you should at least meet together for lunch, etc. and establish a good business relationship.

This is all about developing good relationships with other brokers and salespeople and one might find that they will choose to deal with you.  I have found many of these people end up cooperating once they are convinced you have integrity and bring that to the table.

We have some very special videos and provide monthly Webinars on that teach our members How To Work Exclusive Information in a competent, professional manner that is compatible with the industry.

We should know. We have been doing this since 1994 and real estate brokers and salespeople have been working confidential information since the beginning of selling itself.

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Lead Generation and Networking

It is:

• real estate concepts provided by a real estate broker with forty years in the business learning from others what works and what does not work
• utilizing the full power of the Internet medium for marketing exposure and engagement
• utilizing the power of a specialized real estate “information sharing” service ICIWorld
• realizing what is on the horizon for mobilization of the real estate industry
• understanding networking and trading of information not on real estate boards
• more.