A Woman in a Few Billions !!

The heading in the New Paper on 5th November attracted me. "She sees woman crying, so buys home back for her". What a great Samaritan. One in a few billions!!!

Mrs. Marilyn Mock went to an auction and saw a lady crying. Mrs. Tracy Orr showed up to watch her house being auctioned off. Mrs. Mock decided to bid for the house with the intention of buying it back for Mrs. Orr, reported WFAA TV.

Mrs. Mock had turned up to help her 27 year old son bid on a house, but on the spur of the moment decided to buy Mrs. Orr's house. She did not even know where the house was or its actual value. A surprised Mrs. Orr told CNN, "She said, 'I'm doing this for you. You just look like you needed a friend...All this happened in five minutes. She didn't ask about my financial situation. She had no idea what the house looked like. She just did it out of the graciousness of her heart, just a Good Samaritan. It's amazing." Mrs. Orr bought the house for US$80,000 in 2004, but lost her job a month after taking out the loan. She fell behind on her payments and lost the house this year.

A humble Mrs. Mock, who has a small business selling flagstone and other rocks in Rockwall, Texas, said anyone would have done the same thing.

I am not so sure. As a property agent, I only saw greed in many of the buyers. Some only wanted to buy "properties with suicidal prices". These people with ready cash would come in mercilessly like vultures to capitalise on the situation. Few have compassion and generosity like Mrs. Mock.

I remember once a buyer approached me and told me he would give me one per cent commission, provided I helped to bring down my owner's price from $700,000/- to $600,000/-. I told him that there was no necessity for him to give me commission, as my client would be paying me the commission as a vendor, and if he thought it was a good property worth his while to buy, then he should offer my client the $700,000/-which was already very reasonably priced.

Once I saw an owner advertising his apartment at River Valley Road for sale and asking for $550K, way below the market price. I phoned and told him that I had just sold one apartment in the same block for $830,000/-. If I were not honest, I would have just bought from him and made a subsale profit. Subsequently I helped him to sell at the market price of $850K. What a relief for Mr. Tan. The bank was after him; his wife had died, and his only son was not filial. He told me he was lucky to have met me, or he might end up owing the bank if he had sold his unit at $500K. I told him that most of my happy and satisfied clients would refer their associates and families to me, and I had never cold called or put flyers into mail boxes. Integrity and good service are my loudest advertising means.

Some owners try to save costs by marketing their own properties. It is better to spend a little to pay a good agent to sell the property at a reasonable price.

My spirit has been uplifted by the rare and wonderful deeds of Mrs. Mock. It has restored my faith in homo sapiens. For those of you who have quietly demonstrated your kindness and generosity, I am sure you know what I mean when I say that people in the likes of Mrs. Mock truly get the most out of life. They fill their lives with rainbows, rushing for the pots of gold so that they could use them to bless not only themselves but others as well, so that the world will be filled with beautiful colours.

Gan Chau