The Gospel of Envy
By Jim Palmer Jr.

Most everyone, whether Christian or not has heard of the Ten Commandments that were given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. One of those commandments was, “Thou shalt not covet.” I think about that verse a lot when I hear the clamor of our day from young millennials and others who are jealous of those who are rich, or at least perceived to be rich. Those envious souls think it is okay to take (by force) from the “haves” in order to give it to the “have-nots.” I call this the gospel of envy. This attitude manifests itself in the real estate industry in several ways.

Recently a broker received a call from an agitated buyer concerning a property that they insisted was over priced by about $100,000. The pesky caller was somehow an expert on pricing and berated the listing broker concerning the price. The broker politely dismissed the rude caller and within weeks sold the property for its full asking price. I’m not sure of the motivation of that caller, but I do know this happens frequently, especially from neighbors of listed properties. Maybe some think it is an insult that a property is worth more than theirs?

Another way envy manifests itself is illustrated in a verse of the song called Signs, by Five Man Electrical Band made famous in the 1960’s. The verse says, “And the sign said anybody caught trespassin’ would be shot on sight, So I jumped on the fence and – a yelled at the house, Hey! What gives you the right to put up a fence to keep me out or to keep mother nature in?” Once when I posted a property I had just purchased with signs that said ,”Smile, you’re on candid camera”, I caught flack from someone who was mad that they couldn’t use my property like they had in the past, without permission.

The example that surfaces most often is when someone is miffed that an owner is going to make money on a sale. They have looked at the tax records and say something like, “But the seller only paid (X amount) for the property a year ago. Why do they think its worth this much now?” Envy must be the real root of this kind of thinking! Since when does the current value of a property have anything to do with what they originally paid for it?