Authored by James M. “Lucky” McCann, The Lucky Broker
NYS Licensed Associate Broker,
C-REPS Certified Real Estate Pricing Specialist, CHMS Certified Home Marketing Specialist, PSA Pricing Strategy Advisor, CNE Certified Negotiation Specialist, MRP Military Relocation Professional, Member of NABPOP National Association of Broker Price Opinion Professionals
Hudson Heritage Realty, 57 East Main Street, Washingtonville, NY 10992

There’s a conversation I have with all my clients at some point early on in our relationship…Now, I’m not overly superstitious, and not to insult anyone, but I don’t put too much stock into crystals and things like that, but I do believe things happen for a reason—though we rarely know why.

We actually have this conversation several times throughout the process, and that’s what buying and selling homes or Real Estate is exactly that—a process. And it takes time. I know Reality TV would have you believe that all you have to do is look at three houses and you’ll find a home….If only that were true.

Instead of Reality TV, let’s talk Realty TV! In reality, unless you invest in Real Estate, purchasing property is the single largest investment you will make in life. Most people focus on the monthly payments, but when you really look at it, the average home costs nearly a quarter of a million dollars….more if you finance the purchase. So why would you only look at three options before deciding on one? I bet if you had to pay for those jeans for the next thirty years you’d carry a whole lot more than three pairs into that dressing room!

So you can’t get discouraged when you’ve tried on only three houses and haven’t found the right one, or because three people have looked at the house with no offers. Everything happens for a reason. You haven’t found the right house yet, or the right buyer: Maybe this house is haunted, maybe there’s a sinkhole underneath that’s going to let go in five years, maybe it’s as simple as the fact that there’s a buyer waiting around the corner who is willing to pay twice what you’re asking for the house. Rest assured, there is a buyer for every house, and a house for every buyer.

A part of this conversation is a story I tell every client. I have a personal friend who also became a client of mine. He owned his own business and ran that company from his home. As a home buyer, he had plenty of hurdles, but he had a good head on his shoulders, so he was well prepared. As well as a faithful friend, and Realtor, by his side. The biggest hurdle for most self-employed people is financing, but not my friend. The property itself proved to be the biggest difficulty. There seemed to be something wrong with every house we found. Even when we found a house that came close and we could make an offer, something would fall apart.

The first property we put an offer on actually came back with a counter offer higher than the original asking price. Now, I’m not sure if you are a professional negotiator, as I am, but if you’re not, let me be the one to tell you that this is an unorthodox negotiating tactic. (Or at least it was, at that time.) The strangest part of this was that the property had been on the market already for some time, it was a buyer’s market, and the property was in a terrible location…so, not exactly the type of property that would warrant such a power move in negotiating. My client rightly made the decision to walk away.

The second perfect property on which we worked on putting a deal together with the owners, neglected to tell us, at the time we made the appointment, that they had already secured an accepted offer. That property was a beautiful, turn of the century stone farmhouse with a rather impressive workshop and large garage. When I tell you it seemed like the perfect house, it did…but it was also surrounded by high power electric lines and the neighbors were close. Personally, I feel if my friend had purchased that beautiful home, he would have continually had trouble with noise violations because of the noise his business unavoidably created.

The third house we put an offer together for went all the way to home inspections. My goodness, were we excited. This property had an apartment he could live in, it had a three bedroom main portion of the home he could have rented out, and a pole barn for his equipment. Unfortunately, the inspections uncovered an underground oil tank at the property, as well as raised some questions about the pole barn. Alas, after a few attempts at negotiating an agreement between the seller and my client, we had to walk away from this one, as well.

Don’t despair, we did find the right property, but before I tell you about that, I have to tell you about my wife. When my friend and I started trying to find his new home I was single, as was he. During the time period while we were searching for a property I met a girl, a beautiful Polish girl. We got to become friends, as two people tend to do, and I was lucky enough to trick that amazing woman into falling in love with me, I asked her to marry me and she said yes. Now, the reason I’m telling you all of this is because while all of this courting was happening, my friend and I were continuously searching for the right house—which we did finally find for my friend.

The right property for my friend and client in the end was a three bedroom home, with an excellent workshop and attached garage. It had plenty of flat property for his trucks and equipment. If that weren’t enough, the property had a large, detached three car garage with an additional workshop. To top it all off? The Neighbors: A Cemetery! Beautiful, absolutely beautiful. However, like I now tell all of my clients since the day he and I walked out of that closing: it took me less time to find the perfect woman, woo that woman, plan a wedding and marry her, than it took my friend to find the perfect place. So again, I can’t stress enough that you need to be patient. Just as you would never rush into choosing a person with whom to spend your life, you should never rush into choosing a place in which to spend your life.