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You know that terrible feeling when you click the mouse button and as soon as you did it you know you shouldn’t have? You just lost four hours of work!
It is well to remember those immortal words of Omar Khayyam. He might have been a bit of a soak but he was spot on with this one:
“The moving finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your piety nor wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it”
So what Omar was saying, in between squirts of a very acceptable light crisp Alexandrian chardonnay from his goat skin, was don’t flagellate yourself or your camel over a bad decision. Accept the fact that you’ve screwed up royally and move on.
Think of the man who decided to leave out the well sleave at Sidoarjo in Java. I suspects he regrets his decision but as they say in that part of the world these days “it’s no use crying over spilt mud.”
Has it ever struck you that often there is a moment of time when an action was taken that has changed the world. The split second when an airman pressed a button that released the first atom bomb over Hiroshima killing hundreds of thousands of people.
What about the moment when you said “I do”?
It is very easy to beat ourselves up over the decisions we make in our lives but it is perhaps well to remember that we do what we think is best with the information we have at the time.
I have met a number of people in the past few years that are eaten up inside with something they did or something that happened to them that they cannot change. Several are people who were talked into buying timeshare or property in Bali. For a long time they will remember that moment in time when they signed a contract and their lives have become, for them, a nightmare.
I must immediately say that I have also met a number of people who have bought timeshare or property and they have been very happy with their decision.
How we deal with these situations is very important and perhaps there is a lesson to be learnt from the Balinese who are able to accept what happens and carry on with their lives. Far easier said than done but there comes a time when we need to become objective and make the best of the situation we are in.
Some recent clients have bought a very expensive luxury villa in Bali. They are unhappy about the quality of finish in their new house and over several months their attempts to get the house rectified have resulted in a terrible deterioration in their relationship with the developer. Their initial complaints are fully justified but they have become bitter and lost their love for their new house. Small problems have become major issues for them, emotions have taken over and they have lost their objectivity.
It is a sad and unnecessary situation because at the end of the day the clients have a beautiful house that is structurally well designed and sound. The faults are in fact only finishing that can be relatively easily rectified.
The frustration these people feel comes from their powerlessness in the hands of people who have received a very large sum of money and are not sympathetic. The situation has not been helped by the developer who has failed to maintain a good relationship with his clients. Such an attitude is unfortunate but surprisingly common and will not help the long term development of real estate in Bali.
So what can we learn from this rather tragic situation?
If you buy property in Bali there are a number of important steps you can take to protect your interests:
- Start with a good lawyer who is not the same lawyer the developer is using, Such practice is illegal in Australia and Britain and for good reason.
- Get someone you trust to go through the contract documents and make sure your interests are properly covered.
- Make sure that legal processes follow “due diligence” to ensure all aspects of legal documentation have been fully investigated.
- Make sure the contract has all the technical specifications and drawings attached to it.
- Make sure your property has a building permit and ASK TO SEE IT.
- Make sure that the rectification of faults is adequately covered and gives reasonable time for faults to show up (30 days is not enough!).
- Make sure that the payment schedule includes an amount held back to be paid when all rectifications have been completed.
- Keep copies of all documentation and correspondence.
- Only sign documents when you know these points are satisfied.
If things go wrong don’t disempower yourself by getting emotional. Keep your view of the situation objective. Seek out constructive solutions and use mediators and experts to keep discussions professional and informed.
Finally and above all don’t waste time with regrets, move on and remember - a positive attitude and belief in your decisions has a magic and power in it.
Phil Wilson
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