Newton's Cradle

A Christmas gift when I was a kid was sort of an educational toy called “Newton’s Cradle.” It was constructed of five in-line steel balls suspended from a frame. To play with it, you’d lift one or two of the balls and allow them to swing back against the stationary balls in the middle. Lift and drop one ball and the one ball opposite would swing out and back. Lift and drop two balls and — voila — two balls at the other end would swing out and back in tandem. It was advertised to be endlessly fascinating. It wasn’t.

I’ve since learned that the toy was designed to illustrate Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of motion; that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. I think it was also supposed to inspire me to want to learn more about physics and science and stuff like that. That didn’t happen either.

I had a number of such toys growing up. One I remember the most was a box with springs and wires and electrical doo-dads like resistors and switches that let me experiment with low-grade electrical circuits. But that didn’t qualify me to be an electrician. The time I spent watching the steel balls click-clack back and forth didn’t turn me into a physicist or an engineer. And I can’t call myself a chemist because I spent a few afternoons mixing tiny spoonfuls of bizarre elements in a test tube on my parent’s front porch.

That’s why it’s puzzling when people will read a few things on the internet or garner a few facts from a talk-show host and then come to think they’re experts in something as complicated as the buying or selling of real estate. Over and over in the past few years I have seen Buyers – usually Buyers – bring a set of expectations to a transaction that are dramatically off-kilter. Sometimes they insist on wildly underestimating the value of a property. Sometimes they make decisions based on erroneous information. Other times they’ll take a stand on an issue that is so far away from a reasonable compromise with the Seller that the two sides can’t agree on a solution.

All of this usually results from a know-it-all attitude, combined with an unwillingness to listen to experienced counsel or a voice of reason. And sometimes the counsel those folks are receiving isn’t particularly experienced or reasonable.

I spend a great deal of time with my clients helping them understand the process of buying or selling a home. I say quite often that an important part of my job is to provide the information a Buyer or Seller needs to make a smart decision. Who’s the next person you can think of who needs that kind of Real Estate broker? I’d appreciate it if you would give them a call and tell them about me.

Robert Flinn, REALTOR®/ Broker
919-402-1242 (Direct Line)
919-698-2040 (Cell)
rflinn@fmrealty.com (email)