Most of us love a bargain. But is it the joy of the chase or the
joy of the purchase that really motivates us? Is a bargain hunt
without all the trappings of hard work, negotiation, bluff and
counter bluff any fun at all?
I hate to bargain. Even the mention of the word brings me out in
a cold sweat. Of course, it’s not my fault, it’s my mother who
is to blame – she made me this way.
My mother, Nancy is a part-time property developer, art dealer
and car buyer – and a full time bargain hunter and dealmaker.
She’ll go to any lengths to get a bargain and she’s very good at
it.
The only problem is that during our childhood, she always
insisted on taking me, my brother and my sister along, either to
applaud her latest deal or to learn from her expertise – I’m not
sure which.
But what I am sure of is that my childhood memories are
dominated by long boring trips from neighborhood to
neighborhood, frustrating waits in stuffy offices while my
mother argued with one realtor after another, and then
meticulous room-by-room examinations once a property had tweaked
her interest.
These marathon sessions were followed by long discourses to us
kids on the journey home, and then still more discussions with
my father once we reached there. And our home life was a bit
nomadic – a change and a jump to the next rung of the property
ladder came around every two years or so.
My mother is a truly remarkable woman. Now in her seventies, she
has lost none of her zest for buying, developing and then moving
on – she’s doing it again as I write.
She plans her forays into the property market with military
precision. First the extensive research, then a careful
assessment of the lay of the land, then the determined approach
to the helpless vendor, the relentless prodding for weaknesses
in said vendor’s defenses, followed almost invariably several
weeks later with a triumphant roar as she puts the phone down
after squeezing every ounce of value from her latest victim.
That’s my mum – but I’m not like that. I have more than a
sneaking suspicion that all the time that she spends looking for
a bargain might not be worth the undoubted savings that she
eventually makes.
For me, a change of job meant an imminent move from one side of
the country to the other – and of course at the very idea of
having to search for a new home, I broke out in that familiar
cold sweat.
But things have changed since my enforced childhood property
searches. Now we have the internet and things are very, very
different. A friend recommended Bargain.com and I decided to
sign up for their service at http://www.bargain.com/fe
/homes/ and see how I’d get on. I wasn’t disappointed.
After dinner, I sat down in front of the screen with my partner
and logged on to the site. I entered our new location and budget
into the search boxes and hey presto, there were over 40
properties for us to browse.
After some discussions and a bit of banter over a very pleasant
glass of wine, we whittled our selections down to six properties
– all from the comfort of our own home.
All that was left was a trip to look round our chosen properties
and a mercifully short negotiation as we settled on our final
choice. I couldn’t have been more pleased.
That was three months ago and we’re settling in to our new
neighborhood. I’m now getting even more value from my
subscription by looking for a car on Bargain.com, http://www.bargain.com/fe
/autos/. (Perhaps my bargain-hunting phobia is
disappearing).
As for my mother, she’s just been for her first week-end visit.
Of course, mum being mum she asked all sorts of penetrating
questions about our house buying experiences. She must have been
impressed – her final question was, “Now, how do I find myself
the cheapest broadband connection in Portland?”