The Long Apprenticeship of Patience

Some property processes cannot be rushed by anyone, and much of the skill in this work is learning which ones they are.

A transfer moves through the deeds office at the deeds office's pace, and only after the bank has issued its guarantees and the municipality has issued its clearance. A rezoning application has to be advertised so that neighbours can object, and the municipality decides only once that period has run. Establishing a new township, turning farmland into serviced stands, can take years of surveys, approvals and engineering work before a single title deed is opened.

The impatient response is to lean on everyone in the chain, as if pressure could shorten a legal process. It rarely does, and it uses up the goodwill of the very people who will handle the next file. The patient response is to plan around the real timeline. A buyer who knows that transfer takes weeks books the movers accordingly, and a developer who knows approvals take longer than hoped arranges finance that can carry the wait.

I think waiting is simply part of the work in property. The people who last in it are usually the ones who stopped treating that time as wasted.