View from the Mountain: Responsibility for your actions

My mother taught me to never start a fight, but in the same breath to be ready to stand up for what I believe and accept the consequences of my own actions if I ended up in a fight.

That was great advice a long time ago, and to me it still rings true today. Unfortunately there are a whole lot of people (and states) who want people to be protected even when they do stupid things.

In the same line of thought, we have the people who believe whatever they can get out of a company or another person with the threat of litigation is fair game.

However, life is not always smooth sailing like the picture above.

I am no great defender of corporations who can act like robber-barons, but there have to be some limits on both sides.

Some consumers get irrational, some get greedy, and plenty of us still get screwed.

I think we all have the right to quality services and products. I have never worked for a company that tried to deliver something other than that. From my own farm where I sold Angus breeding stock, to Vermeer balers, Apple computers, mail services from a startup to real estate services from a Crystal Coast firm, I feel that I have worked with companies that tried to fairly represent the capabilities of their products and services.

Yet in almost every case, I have seen clients who for one reason or another were unhappy with their products or services. I can remember someone who bought a round baler from me and was not happy about the way the bales came out of the baler. I worked hard to teach him the proper use of his baler and overcame the problem. I had a college professor who bought a Mac was unhappy because he had five bad pixels on a screen of over 1,000,000 pixels. His expectations were higher than even the best of technology could deliver. Then there people who just could not figure out how to manage their mail accounts no matter how much you helped them.

Sometimes it is best to mutually agree to part company before things get nasty. I have replaced computers just to defuse situations, but I have also had situations where people wanted a new computer just because they thought a big company was an easy target.

It is those people who make it hard for people with legitimate claims. At a certain point, you read the reviews, talk to people, and place your bet with your money. There are few purchases without risk. No everything in this world comes with a guarantee.

I am not sure what kind of world we would have without any risks, but it is something we do not have to lose sleep over because it is not going to happen.

Buying real estate is a very complicated and much regulated process. Even ignoring the opportunity to look at many properties for comparison, there are multiple opportunities to be satisfied with your investment before you make the purchase.

However, it is a human process so there are always opportunities for mistakes. Still when you consider you can hire a home inspector, a bug inspector, a septic inspector, an appraiser, a surveyor, and have the services of a Realtor®, there are a lot of ways to be as close to certain as possible about your future happiness before you pay your money when buying a home.

In spite of all the expert help, in the end, the final protection is the individual purchaser. No one can weigh all of the data and information and decide what is right for you but you.

With that privilege also comes the responsibility to accept your purchase once you have made it. I think there are great safeguards in place for home purchasers, but once you have bought it, it is yours.

One of my favorite clauses in the NC Offer to Purchase is the following.

CLOSING SHALL CONSTITUTE ACCEPTANCE OF THE PROPERTY IN ITS THEN EXISTING CONDITION UNLESS PROVISION IS OTHERWISE MADE IN WRITING.

The bold capitals are right out of the contract. I have decided to use yellow highlighter on the phrase with my next contract. I think the clause deserves it.

I suppose someone could mislead you as to what might be built next door to a home, but in this day of Internet searches, I would have a hard time thinking that is a good excuse.

We ended up buying our property on the NC coast at almost the peak of the market. Could we have gotten it cheaper by waiting another year? I have no doubt that we could have. Had I been using someone other than a dual agent would I have gotten it cheaper, quite possibly? However, it has been over three years, and I have seen literally hundreds of properties. None of those properties have offered the same price/value ratio that I found in this home.

So I am happy with my decision to purchase. It was a serious decision, and I take responsibility for it.

There are plenty of things that we buy which have few protections, but fortunately most of them are relatively inexpensive.

I have had plenty to say over cars, appliances, and computers over the years but they are still buyer beware.

I cannot argue that Microsoft owes me for the time I have spent keeping my Vista computer going since I bought it in spite of a number of negative reviews. However, a few people bought Macs because of my Vista reporting satisfaction is enough.

No one twisted my arm to buy a Vista machine or a property at the peak of the real estate boom, I did both on my own and take full responsibility.

And that is the way it should be.