First off, let’s not equate in achievement those of America’s founding fathers with that of your average garden-variety house domainer. Those men were singular in duty, spirit and sacrifice.

But there is something about the fathers that fits into domaining. Mainly, they were there at the beginning too, when land was beautiful and plentiful. In fact, many thought it would be of great demand…in but a few years.

They, like domainers, gathered as much land as they could and waited…and waited…and died.

Most people don’t know but a healthy chunk of the first US statesman were broke or deeply in debt when they passed on to posterity. Even the architect of the financial system, Alexander Hamilton, was over $100,000 in debt when Aaron Burr shot him in a duel.

Like others of their time, they fell victim  in 1792 to the first bubble and crash of the newbie country: land speculation. The fathers scooped up as much land as they could after Washington was sworn in, launching an age where land prices skyrocketed even though there was way too much free space to speculate.

Problem for domainers: the fathers were right after all. They bought and overbought and died in debt but they were right. The value of the land did go up as they had speculated, it just happened posthumously, when they could no longer enjoy the success.

Remember, the inventor and founder of Coca Cola died insane and penniless, Howard Hughes wearing Kleenex boxes on his feet.

For domainers, this is the paradox of timing a sale, cashing in. Sometimes it might not be the best price but it may be the best time, for varying reasons. From laddering to diversifying to paying taxes, there are many ’causes’ to sell – always in flux and resultant on the desired ‘effect’ of said sale.

I like to believe the ‘domainers’ of the founding fathers day were the ones who came along and bought that land before the ink on the Constitution was dry, in order to take advantage of the coming rush once it was all complete. They were the ones who sold it to Jefferson and Adams and the like.

In the end, it fits the old domain adage, ‘you might get a better offer, yes, but you might have to wait a lifetime to get it,’ a simple concept perhaps even the greatest, brightest and strongest men of our history failed to grasp.

So don’t make the same mistake, consider timing and patience a virtue…not a roadblock. Look at the landscape and the availability versus demand and decide if you can wait and if so, how long?

Just make sure it’s not too long, like the guys who, ironically, now adorn our money.