COCKTAIL CONVERSATION

Remember when a dinner party or a cocktail party was a thing? Yes, I get it. 2019 was so long ago that it’s hard to remember such events happened. Much like the mid-century resurgence, dinner and drinks have become a thing again.

Pre-Covid, (which will certainly become the defining moment, much like pre- and post-depression, or post-war) one of the rules in polite society is that you generally don’t talk about politics or religion, for fear of insulting other dinner guests. The default for safe conversation was real estate. Particularly when public open houses were the norm, you could talk about how much so and so was asking for their shack of a house on THAT street. Or, you marvelled at how great the renovation on the former hoarder home three houses down turned out. Harmless fun, and safe conversation in a mixed group.

Now that we have relaxed and are mixing more often, dinner parties are going to be a lot more interesting!

I suspect the real estate-focused conversations are going to become even more competitive, as guests will try to show their real estate savvy and boast about how they were able to score a deal because they timed their sale or purchase so perfectly. They will go on and on about how they found the perfect home, and won without competition, when everyone else was lining up with 10 others and willing to pay an extra $100K for what usually would be a teardown.

Admit it, you can hear that person’s voice in your head now because we all know one or two people like that.

So what will that dinner party look like if real estate now joins the list of forbidden topics?

I guess it’ll have to devolve to debates on interest rates or inflation – which should be harmless, unless of course you’re big on crypto, in which case the whole conversation becomes a messy shoutfest about government conspiracies.

On second thought, maybe we should just restrict the conversation to debating if the Maple Leafs will make it past the first round, and how Major League Baseball will continue to conspire against the Jays.

Better make sure the bar is well stocked. We’ve got a long road to find normal.

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