How much is enough?

Most of our friends said "congratulations" when we passed on the word that our condo in Arlington sold.

One didn't.

"You're a fool," he said. "You could have gotten more money if you had driven a harder bargain."

Perhaps, but how much is enough?

We're making a 375 percent profit over what we paid for the condo in 1984.

Our Realtor is making good money out of her 6 percent, which averages out to more than $10,000 a day for four days work.

Our buyers, a couple who buys older condos and remodels them for resale, are getting a 30-year-old unit at a decent price and will be able to make money after they rennovate it and sell.

When we moved to Arlington from Illinois 23 years ago, we sold our three-story, four-bedroom circa 1835 townhouse for enough to pay off the mortgage and had just enough left over to make the down payment on the condo in Arlington, moving from a house with 3300 square feet to one with 1320 and financing it with what was -- at the time -- a bargain 12.5 percent mortgage.

That mortgage is paid off and long gone. We leave that condo and head for the mountains with enough money from the sale to build a new home of our dreams (around 3000 square feet) and still have twice as much left over.

Everybody is happy. Everybody makes money. Would dickering over a few thousand bucks add any satisfaction to the process?

Not from where we sit.

Most of our friends said "congratulations" when we passed on the word that our condo in Arlington sold.

One didn’t.

"You’re a fool," he said. "You could have gotten more money if you had driven a harder bargain."

Perhaps, but how much is enough?

We’re making a 375 percent profit over what we paid for the condo in 1984.

Our Realtor is making good money out of her 6 percent, which averages out to more than $10,000 a day for four days work.

Our buyers, a couple who buys older condos and remodels them for resale, are getting a 30-year-old unit at a decent price and will be able to make money after they rennovate it and sell.

When we moved to Arlington from Illinois 23 years ago, we sold our three-story, four-bedroom circa 1835 townhouse for enough to pay off the mortgage and had just enough left over to make the down payment on the condo in Arlington, moving from a house with 3300 square feet to one with 1320 and financing it with what was — at the time — a bargain 12.5 percent mortgage.

That mortgage is paid off and long gone. We leave that condo and head for the mountains with enough money from the sale to build a new home of our dreams (around 3000 square feet) and still have twice as much left over.

Everybody is happy. Everybody makes money. Would dickering over a few thousand bucks add any satisfaction to the process?

Not from where we sit.

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© 2021 Blue Ridge Muse