Compromises and Disappointments

Dealing with real estate agents is and has always been - for me anyway - a compromise. A compromise of my principles regarding those people in society that I choose to associate with, and those that I actively avoid... However, interaction with these people is inevitably unavoidable when one wishes to purchase a house, a position we found ourselves in this week. We have been planning on expanding our property portfolio for some time and when a house that I've always liked came on the market, we realised that we needed to at least put our hat in the ring. This particular house is significantly further away from the city - ironic that we always seem to be heading away from where I'd actually like to be! - but significantly ticked a good number of boxes - for example, moving there provided me with more choices in terms of getting to/from work (currently have to rely on Rowie to drive me to the train station; new place had a number of "benefits" which meant I would be able to get to the train unaided!) It's probably a moot point since, in three week and 2 days I WILL BE BACK ON MY BIKE, but not being able to ride my bike has highlighted a number of issues for me...

So, we got the funding and put an offer in. Some may describe the interaction between a buyer, a seller and a real estate some sort of poetic ballet; an exchange of views with the price edging closer and closer to a happy middle ground in which both the buyer and seller walk away happy... to me, this "dance" boils down only to the real estate agent winning, regardless of the outcome, as it's he/she that gets a big, fat (and totally, in my opinion, overinflated) commission either way... If I had it my way, I would ideally deal directly with the owner, but that kind of opportunity rarely comes up. So yesterday I spent what amounted to 3 hours discussing what a "view" was, how I was "surprised" by the size of the property when we walked around it - essentially talking the property that we wanted to buy and live in down! What a strange and frustrating experience - and we all do it!

In the event, the final offer we were able to put in was not enough to entice the sellers, and they received a better offer shortly after... so in a matter of one hour the opportunity had gone and we were back to square one. In truth I'm not particularly disappointed - we can only afford what we can afford after all - and there are always more houses on the market. What it boils down to though, is that I can't avoid the fact that we're going to have to engage with these parasites of the modern world at least once more - and that is disappointing!