Move Ahead… The One That Got Away

Move Ahead It'll be okay!

No Lamenting! Okay, Maybe Just a Little.

I’ve given this advice hundreds of times…move ahead. I say it a lot more empathetically, of course. The sting is quite palpable at first. I understand.

Finding what seems to be the right home, whether for purchase or for rent, only to have it go to someone else is painful, believe me I know. Sometimes it happens because the clients were outbid. At other times, it may simply be due to bad timing. For example, when a decision to present an offer is made only to hear that another has recently been accepted and contracts are being drawn. I can’t tell you how how often a client has been disappointed by “the one that got away”.

Move Ahead…You’ll Be Fine

Yes, it’s a big let down. It’s also only natural to compare every subsequent place to it. However, time and time again everything seems to turn out for the better. Years ago, a client lost out on a house only to soon find out he was also losing his job. Bummer? Well, no. It gave him time to find a new position without huge mortgage payments hanging over his head. (It was a big house.) Afterward, he was ready for the right house for his family and still owns it! Looking back, he was thrilled at how it all worked out.

Happy Endings

My own story involves a loss turned into a happy ending. We were a young family wanting to live in Old Greenwich with our 3 small boys (before my daughter was born). There was a house I fell in love with but we were just shy on the down payment. Interest rates were 18% at the time! We wound up with a smaller home which we remodeled over the years. It was on a street I LOVED in a location that appreciated more than the first house ever would. (I was young and learned that valuable lesson in real estate – location, location, location.)

I now counsel all of my clients to be assured that everything will fall into place – their place, the one that’s really meant to be until their needs and goals change again.

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