As we approach the end of the year, I find myself reflecting yet again on the real estate transactions that have taken place these past 12 months. I certainly consider myself blessed for the business I have received from clients and customers and am most certainly thankful for it. This was also a year where I don’t remember one transaction not being able to get to close which makes me equally happy. There is nothing that dis-appoints me more than having both buyers and sellers upset because of a deal that went south.
I have again noticed how many people have changed in their ability to forecast and plan for something they know is coming in the future. Nudging and being a bit of a mother hen more than I like to get people moving forward does at times seem daunting. I’m not sure what my take is on why much of society waits until problems become looming before acting on them. Timetables seem non-existent and things just don’t want to get done until the pressure is on. I would rather start early and work at a steady methodical pace and stay at it until it is completed. For me the old saying, “haste makes waste” is so terribly true. Many of the colleagues of whom I’ve worked with for a long period of time know fully well how much I dis-like the last hour rushing to get things done. Seller who have everything ready for moving and are just doing a bit of relaxing before the final day arrives are my favorites. Buyers who have everything to the lender almost the day they ask for it are also my favorites.
I was at a gathering several days ago where there was a gentleman who always likes to talk about the past yet never seems to stay plugged into the problems or time-sensitive issues at hand. I find too often those speaking about the grandiose plans of future re-models or even simple preventative maintenance jobs around the house. I hear the endless stream of tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. I can’t remember when I suddenly found myself sliding into the mold of a pragmatist. Problems remain problems until they are fixed or solved–they don’t just go away. If time is truly a lie, then it looks like everyone else is living that same lie so we have to live with it and move forward.
I have a client with whom I visit with on occasion who is so caught up in some sort of conspiracy theory regarding his father’s health, I’m beginning to think he has the all these possible deadly futures he conjures up that will likely drive himself mad as well as everyone around him. Why can’t we be a little more simplistic in traveling our paths? Shouldn’t we get up in the morning, assess the work at hand, do as much as we possibly can and then go to bed knowing we’ve done the best we can? I can’t think of anything more tolerable than living and working in the here and the now. I’ve said it before and I must say it again, “Take care of today, and tomorrow will take care of itself.”
