Hell or high water.
I suppose somewhere online there's a tracing of the semantic geneaology of the comment. Maybe a wikapedia article that traces it back to the guy who first uttered it. Whatever the case, to this day the combination of words is simply fine when it comes to describing that a task should take place no matter what.
Yesterday as I drove into the face of the sun heading south on Western Avenue through Lincoln Square I muttered the words to myself after an agent for a 9.30 appointment called me at 9am to say her client just called her and cancelled our appointment with 30 minutes to spare.
End of the world? Not by a long shot. But disconnected nonetheless in a buyer-oriented market and one in which showings some times are as sparse as facial hair on a teenager's chin. With the apologetic agent on the line saying that her client "had been up all night sick," I shared with her my own experience in a very different market in 2007 when my very pregnant wife and 17-month old son accommodated showings late and early to getting a multiple offer on our very gorgeous Old Town duplex penthouse.
Hell or high water.
Nothing stood in our way as we showed our Chicago home for sale en route to a very favorable transaction. And as our sparkly Lucas Storm joined us at Northwestern's Prentice on March 7th in 2007 we had the distinctive pleasure of working out the most favorable terms between two different offers. And when he was shy of his first month among other Chicagoans we were packing up and heading to our new home.
But in this capriciously different market, one I know to be favorable to the nth degree to buyers, this woman didn't feel like she could clear out for 15 minutes for her home to be shown (for an appointment slated to occur in 30 minutes). In a market when her last showing may have been more than a week ago and when the number of showings in the past month likely is fewer than the number of digits on her left hand she felt compelled to cancel our meeting a half hour before it was to take place.
Hell or high water.
All things considered this seller's action is not the end of the world or a sign of the apocalypse. It's simply baffling. And it makes no sense if the seller's goal is to sell her home. Would we have certainly bought the home? Maybe not. But there's always the chance that yes, we would have.
And the only way to know is to keep your appointments and show the home.
Maybe next time.
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