From my first deal 31 years ago until the contract I signed this past Thursday, every transaction I’ve been lucky to be a part of resides in its own fantasy storybook world. The houses, the people, the lawyers and of course the “in-laws” are characters in the story, and each one of these deals, as they say about our very abundant snowflakes, is each one of a kind.

I would be inclined to follow up with the sentiment that these deals are never easy, and while this would be quite the accurate statement in general, there was that time about 17 years ago when everything just went…sigh…right.

It started with a phone call from a previous client whose friend from overseas was being transferred and they would need to purchase a house ASAP. Budget was not a concern; could I help? OK, I thought. I could do this.

The buyer called me only once to arrange the time of our meeting and review some brief criteria that he and his wife shared. A few days later he came straight from the airport in a chauffeur- driven limo and we met at the first of three potential houses. Then the strangest thing occurred.

This buyer, typing into a strange device that looked like a large phone with keys on it (early-model Blackberry) was connected via a headset into the same device. He took out a notebook and wrote down the following words:

“I cannot talk; I am on a conference call. I will write down all questions/comments here.”

This could not get any stranger, but sure enough, before we even had a chance to go to the second floor of the first home he wrote: “Take me to the next home.”

This next property was the one I was hoping he would like. Great block, great home, great style, but it was an expensive house for 17 years ago. We started walking through the first floor but it appeared to me as if the customer couldn’t be less interested in what we were doing. He was talking and typing on his phone nonstop. Midway through our tour of the house he wrote down on his paper… “How much?”

I “whispered” to him the price. He paused a moment and then jotted down a number slightly less, smiled at me, walked out of the house to his waiting limo and drove off to the airport.

Three weeks later I closed on the most expensive house I sold that year.

Nechama Polak is the Broker of Record and owner of V and N Group located at 1401 Palisade Ave in Teaneck, 201 692 3700. Feel free to email [email protected] or call 201 826 8809.