I have this Indian client who I’ve been working with for about 5 years. Really nice guy, someone who I’ve closed a handful of deals with. Ever since I’ve been working him, he’s promised me that “he will never work with another Broker”. He owns probably $20M in Commercial Real Estate, so since he promised I’d be his exclusive Broker I’ve always done things like help him develop his properties and working with Architects to improve his properties without charging him.

He called me earlier this week and said he received an offer on one of his properties. Turns out it was a $3.5M offer from another Agent, and the potential Buyer is a guy who is also another client of mine(I’m the listing Agent for all of this guys properties that he sells, but he uses other Agents for purchases as well). Also the offer included a $200k commission being paid by my Indian client to this other Broker.

I told my ****** client, “Listen, just tell this guy you’re not interested. If you want to sell, I can get you this same offer from this same Buyer.” He originally agreed.

Then I spoke to him again yesterday, and he said he gave them a tour of the property and is strongly considering accepting the offer. This made me fuking angry, because I’ve toured this property with him many times and have done various things for him free of charge under the assumption that I would eventually be selling it for him within the next year or two.

My assumption is that he will accept it, and I’ll probably end up having to distance myself from him because I’m in the process of helping him with a renovation that will add $1M in value to his property and doing it free of charge(so basically I’m getting completely cucked).

Long story short, you can be friendly and nice to some people in business, but clearly not ****** I don’t think this guy is intentionally fuking me, but he clearly doesn’t view me as someone whose wishes need to be account for.

You should never do nice things for people with the intention to be rewarded. Sounds like you cucked yourself tbh.

****** are one of the people you should always be wary about.

Never trust them. Dead serious. Now you know.

I agree with this, but he’s told me directly that he would use me for all his sales. It’s not like I was inventing things in my head.

Agreed.
has to do from the corrupt colonial upbringing.

only way to get ahead was to suck up to the british elite and higher caste people. with such a huge disorganized country, corruption was the norm.

indians dont consider lying in business to be morally wrong

Never do this. You devalued yourself, and in response, your client devalued you too. If you offer too much for free for someone who can afford it, eventually they will just be taking advantage of you, regardless of ethnicity. It can also come across as someone who is desperate for business.

You are running a business, not charity. Eventually those actions change the way you do business with someone.

Did you tell him how you did all this work for free and how he's pretty much fukn you? If he does and still follows through then I'd just prolly blacklist him as a client

Know that feeling and it stings. Not with multi-million deals or anything just helping people do the corporate ladder BS. People legit stole my ideas or expressed my opinions/analysis in front of higher ups to make themselves look better. All while being chummy with me.

Once I would catch them doing this, I basically cut them off in terms of any sort of help that would advance their careers. Thing is if they would just acknowledge or give me credit I wouldn't care if they pitched it. Would even work with them and let them ride the coattails of my ideas. Funny part is most of them ultimately weren't capable/smart enough to ever deliver without me. Glad I don't work in a corporate enviornment anymore.

Sucks though OP. It's a bitch move and I know that feeling. Industries like that are small and now you know his true colors. It will come back.

Confront him instead of crying on the misc, broyo

I wasn’t super confrontational about it because as of yesterday he hadn’t signed the deal yet. Also, he said he will use me to buy another property with the proceeds. But that purchase is only like a $50k commission and will probably take a lot of my time that can be spent in better ways.

But I did tell him in some subtle ways that it was going to change our relationship if he went forward.

why are you doing it for free?

You’re letting your emotions get in the way of your business, and you are letting him know that you are. Emotional people are easy to exploit.

Mostly because it would increase the value of his properties and make them easier to sell. And it’s not hard work for me, I do development all the time and it’s simple. But for other people they wouldn’t even know where to begin.

If he told you directly he would only use you; call his azz out on that. Make him stand on business.

In a high trust society with high trust individuals, you can absolutely do things that will benefit both of you like that. But when dealing with untrustworthy people who do not value long term profitable business relationships over a small short term profit, you cannot. Which is why he's telling you to avoid ****** specifically.

I'm not sure why OP is continuing to help with property development though, at the very least tell him you have other projects you're busy with, then just never get back to him on it. Whether or not he takes the hint is irrelevant.

Nah, he’s genuinely a nice guy and isn’t some shark looking to fuk everyone over. But him being nice is also is the reason why he entertained an offer from another Broker without telling him to fuk off.

Verbal contracts are difficult to prove, even though they are legally binding. Always get it in writing.

Exactly. I have other clients where I can do a $3m deal on a handshake. Their word is as good as a written contract.

I see, but he isn't selling them to you now?

Brah this sounds like big financial decisions and he never really made formal promises. It sounded like you gheys were just shooting the shot lol.

I'd say git over it and improve.

That is a fair argument, but lots of business is done without formal agreements while things are still being worked out. It is done in good faith for future business. Indian dude kinda fuked OP and shouldn't continue doing business with him. Or at least keep a healthy distance.

Yeah, of course if he goes through with this I’m finished helping him with anything outside of actual deals.

OP, what percentage of business is this single client of yours? It seems to me that it’s a very large percentage, otherwise, this would not be a big deal. Perhaps your time would be better invested getting more clients instead of focusing on this one. How much time advertising, marketing, and networking are you doing?

That's how it goes sometimes. All relationships are based on reciprocity - you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours. You scratched his back, and he just got up and left.

So fukk him... you're done with him. Let him pay another architect to renovate his properties.

He’s actually not one of my top 5 clients. But it’s more so the principle of it, he’s a guy who calls me to chat every 1-2 weeks and has for the last 5 years.

All in all, I've spent ten years of my life in Indian-majority environments. They're the cheapest motherphukkers I have ever seen.

Yeah but that's for small stake deals.

Nah, this is a case of me being too close to him, so he thinks I’ll let certain things slide.