If you’re a regular reader of this newsletter, you’ll know that there’s a solid 50% chance that I’ll have written this on a train, and a 10% chance that I’m going to use one of my favorite podcasts to make a point about real estate. Well, today’s no exception. 

I actually only have three true favorite podcasts. I already wrote Acquired a month ago. The second is about the Murdaugh murders*, and I haven’t yet found a not-completely-inappropriate way to relate that topic to real estate. But the third one continues to deliver gems.

So the moment I listened to episode #2 of The Rest is History’s four-part series on Greek myths, this newsletter was bursting fully-formed like Athena from Zeus...

Our society is so polarized that we can disagree on some of the most fundamental topics, like whether The Righteous Gemstones is a genius work of art (it is), or whether life is worth living without cheese (it is not).

Still, there are a few baseline things we can all agree on:

No one wants to be taken advantage of

Everyone likes a good deal

In retail real estate, your best safeguard against #1 is to use a reputable retail real estate broker. But #2 is tricky, because when it comes to brick-and-mortar business, your “good deal” is almost certainly not my “good deal”.

Your broker’s job is to ensure that the deal you’re considering is within the realm of normal for your m...