Pro golfer Curtis Strange was in contention, listed on the leaderboard, at the U.S. Open tournament of 1993. But on Sunday morning, he’d come up one stroke short of making the playoff round.
A journalist asked if he would sleep that night.
“Probably not,” he said. “I’ll probably go through every shot and every thought.”
“But you know what? That’s okay,” he said. “It’s disappointing, but goddamn it, I was there.”
He was there. He’d strived and risen through the ranks of golf and gotten within striking distance of a championship, but this time came up short. He said it was not a failure.
“This is what you play the game for—to get yourself in a position on Sunday at the U.S. Open so you can throw up all over yourself.”
(As told in “A Good Walk Spoiled,” by John Feinstein, 1995.) The anecdote came back to me on a recent Sunday morning, years after first reading it, as a spectator in a more common sort of Sunday competition.
Real Estate Open Houses
Every weekend, on streets all over Denver, realtors plant their eye-catching Open House signs, trying to lure drivers-by to their latest listings. They set up shop at living room tables with free cookies and “please sign in” guestbooks.
Sometimes they employ stand-ins: Younger, hungrier agents who are willing to trade part of their weekend for a chance to meet some new clients. That happens.
In any circumstance, it is quite competitive. Not at a world class level. Maybe any shmuck can hold a house open. But professionally done and with a little luck, an Open House can result in a seven-figure contract signed before sunset.
Anyone who has run an Open House when they’d rather be at their kids’ soccer tournament can say—and should say—one thing with pride: I was in the game. Goddamn it, I was there.
Last year, I was there approximately 18 times, hosting Open House days from April through August 2024. The sad part was, they were all at the same property.
It’s a long story. A 50/50 business partner and I bought a 3BR condo. It was to be a quick flip project. We completed the renovation and I popped it on the market.
Interest was quite strong at first. Some weekends, I held two events. Some prospective buyers returned more than once.
But condo prices had started to slide. (Citywide, “attached” home sale prices are now down at least 6 percent from a year ago, while detached homes have been stable.)
The collapse is largely due to insurance premiums, rising along with the higher costs of hail and fire damage. HOA monthly assessments have soared and condo prices have plummeted.
I didn’t immediately understand what was happening. Blunders by this HOA made things worse by temporarily killing all owner-occupant financing. Sothere I was on another mid-summer Sunday, feeling like the Maytag repair man.
In the end, we did sell the property—to me. I bought us out, refinancing our renovation loan with a lower interest landlord loan. It is not a great gem in my rental portfolio; its value has declined further.
“Throwing Up”
Turns out that expression is a thing in golf. When top pros have disastrous days, they admit to having vomited, figuratively, “all over themselves.”
But true professionals always say, tomorrow is another day, according to the late golf writer Feinstein.
Metro Denver’s inventory of active listings is up 41 percent from a year ago. In Golden, where I live, the increase is more dramatic. On a recent Sunday afternoon, I visited several Open Houses in and around town.
I knew the traffic would be light. At a $1 million listing on Entrada Drive, I chatted with a bubbly young agent (a stand-in) in the kitchen. She had more to say more about the cryptocurrency market than real estate. No other visitors showed up during our talk.
At a $2 million luxury listing on Ridge Road, the 30-something listing agent was saying goodbye to another realtor as I arrived. He had no other traffic. Same story at a funky commercial property on 8th Street.
Jim Smith, a veteran Golden area agent, spoke with me at his $1.3 million listing on Sage Drive. We say only one other visitor, a nearby neighbor.
“I don’t consider it wasted time,” said Smith. “I have my laptop and my phone. I can work as well here as in my office.”
In a tough market, the pros keep showing up. They’re out there representing their clients, making calls, ignoring adversity and putting themselves in a position to win.
They’re willing to throw up, if necessary, and return to the game tomorrow.