I have taught negotiation skills at companies for the past 10 years, read dozens of books and attended multiple high-level training programs to deeply understand how to be a successful negotiator. As a matter of fact, I just spent my last two months helping two multinational companies negotiate a $300 million agreement.
Although a large deal like that might sound intimidating and complex, the truth of the matter is that all negotiations, large or small, boil down to this: Whoever is the best prepared and has the most ways to win, will win the negotiation.

Let’s look at these factors in a bit more detail.
Being extremely well-prepared means having a solid handle on a few fundamental negotiating elements. The first is simply to make sure you do your homework. You must carefully study all of the numbers and gather solid research and data about the important elements of the negotiation. In addition, you should seriously consider what your optimum outcome would look like, as well as considering what your BATNA is if the negotiation goes poorly. 
BATNA stands for “best alternative to a negotiated agreement”—in other words: what is your walk-away option if you get to the point where you cannot make an acceptable agreement.
If you do not have a BATNA, or your altenative is so undesirable that you do not want to exercise it, then you must move on to do the next step of being a superb negotiator: Generate multiple ways for you to be satisfied.
Most people show up to a negotiation completely underprepared and with only one way to win—their way. When you enter a negotiation that way, you put yourself in an extremely difficult position. However, if you do your homework and go to the negotiation with many creative ways for you and your counterpart to reach a win-win agreement, then nearly every negotiation will yield a positive outcome for both parties.

Let me give you a quick example:
Person “A” shows up at a car dealership without having done any research online to compare prices, compare models or look at various financing options. The person walks on the lot and out of hundreds of cars picks one—and only one car—to purchase. When this person sits down to buy, he or she is at a tremendous disadvantage.
Person “B” shows up at the car dealership with a thick folder of Carfax information, consumer trends reports, price comparisons from other dealerships, the Blue Book value of the car the person intends to trade in and preapproval for a car loan from the bank. The buyer walks on the lot and identifies five cars that meet various aspects of his or her buying criteria. Perhaps one is a bit closer to the ideal, but any one will do as long as the person gets the deal he or she wants. This person will most likely leave the lot with a solid win-win outcome.

When preparing for negotiations, it is important to note that the level of homework, preparation and option generation should be directly proportional to the size and importance of the negotiation. If you’re negotiating for something of minimal value, don’t spend hours preparing. However, if you’re negotiating to get a new job, promotion or raise, or to close a major deal for your company, then you’ll want to be as well-prepared as possible and have a long list of acceptable outcomes.
Yes, negotiating can seem very complex and intimidating, but at the end of the day it always comes down to just two key factors: preparation and flexibility.

Commercial real estate leasing in Gainesville is still soft, with the number of office space listings increasing and retail listings holding steady, according to an analysis of first quarter 2010 data by commercial Realtor Beau Beery.
Beery’s report showed that the number of office listings increased from 192 to 204 while the overall weighted average lease rate landlords could get dropped 1.91 percent.

For the retail market, the number of listings increased from 115 to 125 while the overall weighted average net lease rate dropped 4.36  percent.
On the positive side, Beery says the current market offers incredible opportunities for people who have the money to invest.

Summary & Market Outlook 1st Qtr 2010 Click Here

As the effort to create an innovation economy in Gainesville moves into the critical implementation phase, a new leadership team is taking over.
Gainesville attorney and entrepreneur Linda McGurn and Brian Beach, a senior administration official with the University of Florida, will lead this phase as heads of the Innovation Advocates—a group of senior leaders from business, government, education and technology that formed earlier in the development of the Innovation Gainesville plan. International business consultant John Spence and Jane Muir, associate director of UF’s Office of Technology Licensing, will head a Jump Start Action Team.  
The advocates will focus on big idea strategies that will help Innovation Gainesville in the long term, while the Jump Start team will work on plans that can be quickly implemented, says Brent Christensen, president and CEO of the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce.

Picture Gainesville’s commercial districts as compact communities where every building has a lovely apartment or friendly office upstairs. Where upstairs tenants can step down a flight to shop or go to work, rather than jumping in a car for a cross-town trip. Where cars and unsightly parking lots are hidden behind buildings, accessible only by alleyways.
This is the mixed-use development dream Gainesville’s officials are now trying to create through zoning regulations. Unfortunately, the reality isn’t quite so neat.
The reality is those nice upstairs-downstairs spaces are more expensive to build and harder to rent than the single-story units we’re used to, say commercial property owners and developers.
The reality is that today, most banks are reluctant to finance mixed-use development because there’s no guarantee the rental spots will fill up and generate revenue to help pay for a project.
The reality is mixed-use zoning may well be creating unusable space—a second-story ghost town in parts of Gainesville.
“There’s a large percentage of second floor vacancy in Gainesville,” says Laude Arnaldi, senior vice president of commercial banking at Gateway Bank, “and financing is not as easy as it used to be four or five years ago due to the economic situation (both national and local) and the regulatory environment.
“Banks are not interested in speculative development in today’s real estate market, either,” Arnaldi says. “We’re looking for projects to be 100-percent pre-leased before we sit down to talk construction financing.”