Photo and Story By Joe Zlomek

Thomas Hobson owned a horse stable in Cambridge, England, during the 17th Century. As a merchant he had his peculiarities, and as an animal owner he had his preferences ... one of which was to rotate the use of the horses he rented to the public. Hobson always made his freshest horse available in a stall nearest the stable door. It may not have been the fastest horse, or the strongest, or the sturdiest, or the most desirable, but it was the one Hobson was intent upon renting next.

Old Hobson had his reasons. Most of his renters, according to The Phrase Finder website, were Cambridge University students. He'd watched them ride animals hard, and without much respect for their welfare. He needed to protect his assets, and so customer desires went out the window. A rider may have wanted a particular animal, but Hobson was steadfast: the customer could choose the horse in the stable nearest the door, or leave without a horse at all.

This became known as "Hobson's choice," and it was first described in the 1688 poem "England's Reformation" by Thomas Ward. It equates with "all or none," "take it or leave it" and "my way or the highway."

As it turns out, this was a smart business move. English grammarian and author Michael Quinion has researched Hobson's life and reports his livery was extremely successful. It made him a rich man.

Centuries later, Model T manufacturer Henry Ford would become known worldwide for the Hobson's choice he presented to new automobile buyers: they could have their car in any color, Ford said, "so long as it was black." The reason: between 1915 and 1925, when the Model T was assembled, black paint dried the fastest and so allowed Ford's employees to make cars more quickly. He therefore arbitrarily limited Model T color choices.

Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, reports the term is often (mis)used to describe a choice between undesirable options, rather than (as intended) a choice between nothing or something potentially undesirable. A choice between two undesirable or bad options is instead known as a "Morton's fork," but that's another story.

A Hobson's choice is different than a "Catch-22," made famous by author Joseph Heller's satirical novel about World War II, in which all available choices actually cancel each other out. It also is different than a "dilemma," in which all available choices have nearly identical value to the chooser.

Sometimes, the maligned Hobson doesn't even get credit for his creation. On occasion a Hobson's choice is incorrectly called a "Hobbesian choice," named for philosopher Thomas Hobbes (an incredible and confusing similarity). Hobbes once described a specific Hobson's choice in which an armed robber told his victim, "Your money or your life!" Hobbes contended the person so forced to choose was still fully free in making a decision.

Why talk today (May 11, 2007) about Hobson's choice? Because real estate licensees regularly face Hobson-like problems.

Consider the home sellers courted by an agent for their listing. The sellers are adamant they must get "X price" (fill in any dollar amount) for the property, no matter what contrarian advice may be found in comparisons to previously sold comparable properties, bank estimates, certified appraisals, or an analysis of market conditions. The agent must make a Hobson's choice: list the property at the seller's (sometimes absurd) price, or decline the listing.

Or consider the investor who approaches the owner of a parcel and asks, "If you were willing to sell, how much would you want for your place?" For a second the owner ponders what he believes to be a high sum, usually based on what he initially paid for the property coupled with what he believes is a handsome profit. He then names the price, and adds "I won't take anything less!" There's the Hobson's choice, a take-it-or-leave-it proposition. But the investor knows the property, when properly marketed, is worth substantially more. He'll take it, of course, demonstrating that not all Hobson's choices are undesirable.

It seems there are two key factors in making the best of a Hobson's choice: knowledge, and time. If you have both, your choices will often make you a winner. If you have one or the other, you may not win but you enjoy a better understanding than most of what your downside is. If you have neither, well then, you're human.

In a somewhat-real-estate-related aside, Real Change, a Seattle WA-based advocacy group for the homeless, has created an interesting online game about Hobson's choices. In it, the player takes the role of a person forced into living on the streets. It's an amusing and humbling way for the organization to make its point. Play it at http://www.realchangenews.org/hobsons/index.html.