Real estate professionals, if you haven’t watched the A&E show Barter Kings, it might be worth your while to drop in for an episode or two. The premise is simple. Two guys start out with a nearly worthless item and, through a series of trades with anyone they can find, sometimes end up with a pretty sweet item at the end. While the idea itself is fun to watch in action, don’t miss the educational aspect of negotiation at work in the real world.

Granted, the Barter Kings world has cameras following them everywhere so how real can it REALLY be? Still, Jason Hartman likes the lessons to be learned if you’re paying attention. Here are a few particular ideas we picked up on.

1. Look for the soft spot. Pay attention to the conversation. There’s a good chance you’ll pick up on a reference to children, grandchildren, or a spouse. Don’t be afraid to keep returning to it as a reason to go forward with the deal. For this strategy to work, you need to let the seller do plenty of talking, especially in the beginning.

2. Don’t get too excited and blow it all by being a hyperactive little Chihuahua. Keep your game face on and your emotions under control at all times, but especially when you’re getting close to closing a blistering deal.

3. When it comes to closing an all cash deal, don’t feel bad about getting the sweet end of the stick. No one forced anyone else to do anything at gunpoint. They need cash and want to get out from under a dud of a property, which you’ll keep reminding them is, in fact, a dud of a property. You’ve got cash to give them immediately, thereby saving them the Chinese water torture of going through the listing, waiting, showing, hoping, depression, re-listing cycle that so many sellers today are forced to endure.

Finally, Barter Kings offer a lesson in due diligence. Every once in a while they come across an item they have no idea about the true value. At that point, it’s off to the Internet or to visit an expert to do research. How can you actually barter for or with something when you aren’t certain of the actual value? Is that bottle of Marilyn Monroe wine worth $15 or $15,000 dollars? Better find a Monroe aficionado and find out.

You can learn something television every once in a great while. (Top image: Flickr | RON SOMBILON MEDIA, ART and PHOTOGRAPHY)

The AIPIS Team