Let Time Do Its Half

Drying time is the stretch new plaster needs to release its moisture before paint goes on, and no amount of hurrying on site makes it much shorter. Paint rolled on too early, on a renovation running behind schedule, looks fine for a while. Then the trapped moisture pushes outward, the paint blisters, and white salts appear on the surface. The walls are scraped and redone, and the delay ends up longer than the wait would have been. The builder did his half of the job. Time was never given its half.

Much of property runs on the same clock. A new suburb starts to feel settled only once the trees have grown, the school has filled and the first owners have stayed long enough to know their neighbours, and values tend to follow that more closely than the brochure. A landlord's name among local tenants is built one lease at a time.

Selling early to force a gain runs into the same wall. Agent's commission and bond cancellation costs on the way out, then transfer costs on the way into the next home, can eat most of a short term gain and leave little for the trouble. On any job, the useful question is which part belongs to effort and which part belongs to waiting.