"Was not meant to be." ?

As a real estate agent I have heard that quote many times from sellers and particularly buyers. I have heard it from people of faith and people with no faith connection. It has continued to puzzle me. It often comes up when a home purchase does not go the way the buyers have intended. A typical response is, "everything happens for a reason, so it was not meant to be." That is particularly puzzling from a no faith perspective. What then is behind the reason? If your belief is in no authority, what then is driving or orchestrating the events. Is it mere fate, or chance or luck or lucky stars? Taking it from a faith perspective, how does one know if it was meant to be or not meant to be? Does that mean that beyond any control of a buyers decision, that the outcome is invariably left to divine intervention. So if a home is listed at $225,000 and the buyer offers $130,000, the seller rejects the offer, the buyer responds by saying, "well, it was just not meant to be". Both the faith based and non faith based buyer can claim the same result. If however, a buyer offers $215,000 on the same home, and the offer is accepted, then it must have been "meant to be". Could it have been that it is not so much fate or divine intervention, but rather a process of determining a fair market value and offering a reasonable amount based on comparable properties and value to the prospective home buyer. When a non faith buyer responds to a outcome as "was not meant to be", they seem to be giving a whole lot of credit and responsibility to fate (chance) or to their lucky stars. When a faith based buyer who offers $130,000 on a $225,000 listing and then responds "was not meant to be" would seem to be trivializing a God who would have interest in a ridiculous offer. The same can be said for a seller who prices their property way higher than its market value. When it certainly does not bring an offer, was it "not meant to be" that we move? Did Lucky Stars align against the seller, or did God block any interested parties from viewing the property?
Art Linkletter had a appropriate quote, "Life happens while you are making plans". To the faith and non faith buyer or seller, my response is, determine fair market value, determine your finances, your options, and make a informed decision based on facts and your gut (intuition).
To the faith based buyer/seller, I would add prayer to the above. I do not want to diminish God's involvement in a believers life in any way. When their no peace in regards to a decision after careful prayer and consultation, then likely there is a reason for it. Or if there are road blocks after road blocks when making informed and reasonable decisions, then perhaps there is a time to pull back. It's just when a faith based buyer or seller does the "was just not meant to be" thing in response to unreasonable decisions, it becomes a rather poor reflection or witness on God.
Life, the things and events make up our lives and experiences, happen when we set goals, make plans, dream, decide and then engage.