Sometimes The Most Powerful Thing I Do Is NothingI have a challenge for you. Do nothing for a minute. How about five? Could you make it to fifteen? Turns out doing nothing at all is harder than it
Patience and Quiet as a Strategy
Dated: August 12 2026
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Sometimes The Most Powerful Thing I Do Is Nothing
I have a challenge for you. Do nothing for a minute. How about five? Could you make it to fifteen? Turns out doing nothing at all is harder than it sounds. What I’ve discovered over my career is that one of the best moves you can make during a real estate transaction is to be patient.
A couple of years ago I was selling my own home. We had accepted an offer and the buyer was working through their inspection. If you've ever sold a home and tried to wait while the buyer does their due diligence, you know this can be an excruciating time. Is the buyer going to ask for any repairs to be done? Are they going to try to renegotiate the sales price? What if they cancel? There are a lot of worst case scenarios for sellers, and the only best case scenario is that nothing changes. With that in mind, it is my practice as a listing agent to never ask the buyer or buyer's agent how the inspection went, if they want to negotiate anything, or really to check in for any reason. That’s because if the buyer doesn't make any requests during the inspection timeline, the contingency expires and the buyer loses the right to negotiate. The transaction moves forward with no changes. As the seller, or with my clients as the listing agent, there are many unknowns during this period and the urge to ask the buyer for information is practically a compulsion. I've learned to ignore that urge.
My buyer had completed their inspection and I didn’t hear anything from them. It’s common to hear nothing for a day or two while the inspector finishes the report and the buyer decides what to do next. But the days slowly piled up and we drifted towards the end of the timeline. I was dying to know, but didn’t pick up my phone. I simply waited. The buyers’ timeline ran out, the inspection contingency expired, and I changed the status to Pending in the MLS.
Then, three days after the contingency was gone, I heard from the buyers’ agent. He let me know that there was mold in the attic of the house. I had never been in the attic, so I had no idea the problem even existed. But because the timeline for the inspection had ended, the buyer had no right to ask for repairs or any other contract changes. The buyers’ agent pleaded with me. He even said, “Yeah, this is my mistake, but isn’t there anything you can do?” I told him that since the contingency had expired, and it was his mistake and not mine, it would be his responsibility and the buyer's to resolve any issues.
We moved forward to closing with no changes. Being quiet and patient protected the transaction and was clearly in my best interest.
Silence isn't just something that worked once on my own house. When I'm working with a client, I ask a lot of questions, and then I stop talking. I let people think. I don't fill quiet moments with reassurances nobody needs or urgency that isn't real. In an industry filled with extroverts and showmanship, I'd rather be the calm, steady, unflinching person in the room. Experience is not just knowing what to do. It is also knowing when to leave things alone.
Clint Kuipers
Clint Kuipers specializes in complex and emotionally significant real estate transitions in the Twin Cities, including divorce, estate sales, downsizing, and buying and selling at the same time. With ....
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