WHAT IS NOT YOURS IS NOT YOURS. By Obande Agbese
“My brothers and sisters. You need to cry unto God to give you your own child or children. Some of you are deceiving yourselves by telling people that your brother’s or sister’s child living with you is your biological child. No matter how much anyone loves you, nobody can gift you their own child on account that you don’t have any. What is not yours is not yours!” the deliverance minister’s voice rang out. It was at MFM prayer city weekend deliverance program. The section was for those seeking for the fruit of the womb. The words stuck to my memory: WHAT IS NOT YOURS IS NOT YOURS.
“Mr Obande, my wife has decided to rent out the vacant flat to one of her friends. Stop marketing it. The flat is no longer available” one of my clients said to me via a Whatsapp message.I was left speechless. This was the flat that I convinced him to rent out after he left it vacant for years. He did not want tenant wahala. This was the flat that he instructed that no one should open for anybody without me being there. This was the flat that I drive from the Island to the Mainland each time someone wants to inspect. To convince him to let out that flat, I did a hard job of resorting to factual statistics, financial indices and realities of physical and economic obsolescence. His wife could not convince him all these years to exploit the income earning potentials of the flat. But now that I have done the job, the wife’s friend has rented the place.
What is not yours is not yours.
I was undertaking Project Management for a friend on his construction site. He entrusted the construction into my hands from the early stage of foundation. I was still negotiating the cost of the roofing with contractors without knowing that he had already started roofing the house without my knowledge. One fateful day, I took a roofing contractor to site to give me a quote. Alas, I met some people roofing the property. On enquiry, they said that the property owner gave them the contract. I looked foolish in front of the person I took to site. I felt deeply ashamed. That was the last time I went to that site.
What is not yours is not yours.
A flat became vacant in one of my management properties. Before I could say “God of mercy” a tenant had moved in. I went to the property with the audacity and swagger of being in charge of the property. On my audacious enquiry, the new tenant said that he didn’t know about me. He paid directly to the landlord. The landlord had spoken to the new tenant through an Agent he knew. He collected money directly from the new tenant without recourse to me. And this was supposed to be my management property. Of course, I wrote the property owner that I was done managing the property.
What is not yours is not yours.
A lot of realtors fail to factor this reality into their everyday operation. That is why disappointment and attendant frustration seems to be a recurrent decimal in property agency practice. A property owner may change his/her mind at any time. Realtors are subject to the whims and caprices of property owners.
(A reflection an unconventional mind)
Obande Agbese is an Author, Public Commentator, Philosopher, Scholar and an Estate Valuer Obande Agbese & Co 08138641265. obandeagbeseandco@gmail.com