After having owned an apartment in the North for a decade, we found an apartment that we wanted to live in. This was a decent apartment in the center of the country, in an appropriate neighborhood, with all the advantages, baruch Hashem. Now it was time to look for a buyer for our apartment in the North. I sought out realtors and let them know that I was open to proposals.
Our initial advertising did not seem to move anyone; not one person asked about the apartment.
At that point, I made an agreement to give exclusive rights on the sale of the apartment to one specific realtor for a certain amount of time. He obviously received payment for the work he would do for me, and on his end, he promised to bring clients. He probably did his best, but the time-period we had agreed on passed, and there was no buyer.
I approached another realtor who demanded payment for simply dealing with my apartment, and promised me clients, but his promises drifted into thin air. Time was running out; in another two months we would have to move, and we still hadn’t found a buyer.
Providentially, the Hashgachah Pratis newsletter came my way, and inside it there was a story about a woman who had a hard time renting her apartment, and she promised to pay a mediation fee to the true Realtor – Hakadosh Baruch Hu – and to donate the income from the first month of rent to tzedakah.
I told myself, That’s an excellent idea! Who could be a better realtor than the Creator yisbarach Himself?! I promised to give a quarter of a percent of the apartment’s worth to tzedakah, and at that moment I was filled with serenity. After that, a number of realtors contacted me and promised to bring me clients, but I told them that the apartment was now being handled exclusively by one Realtor, and I would not be utilizing their services, since there is no helper and savior other than Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
I placed a small ad in a local circular in the center of the country, and the very next day a Yid called and asked about the apartment. He asked questions, took the address, and was already on his way up North. Who would show him the apartment? How would he know where to knock? Perhaps I would need a realtor in the area to be with him? These concerns troubled me for only a short time, because I immediately shook them off and said, I made a decision to rely on Hashem, so I will do so to the end.
The potential buyer found the apartment easily, and he was pleased with it. But two days later he told me he wasn’t sure, because the apartment was not registered under our name, and also because of the roof – which the neighbor claimed belonged to him.
I had known that this hurdle would come. How many runarounds and headaches I’d endured because of this problem! Only five years ago, I was informed that there was a problem with apartment’s registration on our name in the government’s land registry. We had paid the price of the apartment in full, including the roof, but it was still listed as though we did not have title to it. Clearly, an injustice had been done to me, but before fighting it, I simply had to settle the whole thing so that we’d be able to sell the apartment when the day came.
At the time, I hired a lawyer for 12,000 shekels to deal with the paperwork and take care of formally registering the apartment on our name, but then Covid came. Many of the offices that deal with these things closed, and there was generally no one to speak to. When you finally succeeded in getting someone on the line, it was a tired voice that told you to send a certain form and to take certain information from the government and other nonsense, and signatures and paperwork – bureaucracy with no beginning and no end.
The lawyer, whose salary was already paid, said he was taking care of it, and five years later the matter was still in middle of “being taken care of.”
Now my heart was pounding, because this time, the person who told the potential buyer about the whole issue with the registry and how it was being taken care of and hopefully it would all be put in order in the coming days – was none other than I myself. On his end, he continued his own processes. He went in to his Rebbi, told him about the apartment and the concerning issues, and received a brachah to go ahead with the purchase.
Yes!
Even though our name was still not formally listed as owners of the apartment, I had a buyer. It was a miracle.
Now when I saw Hashem’s openly revealed chassadim, and the amazing brokerage services that Hakadosh Baruch Hu arranged for me, I understood what needed to be done. I promised to give a thousand shekels to tzedakah so that Hakadosh Baruch Hu would arrange the registration of the apartment for me as well.
Only then, after the issue had schlepped on for five years, did it suddenly enter my mind who is essentially responsible for what happened. It was the first lawyer, with whom we signed the contract upon purchasing the apartment. I called him and explained, and he got heavily involved, and ultimately, despite the difficulties, he took care of it.
Amazing how only now did I realize that it was his responsibility, because the ideas that enter our minds are from Hashem as well – only from Him.
The whole matter was settled quickly, and two weeks ago, the long-awaited document certifying the registration of the apartment on our names arrived!
Now the buyer can be calm as well, and I thank Hashem for His kindnesses and for His wonders.
