The reason activating release clauses has become increasingly popular in recent years (and analogizing it to a house purchase totally misses the mark) is that a move being certain, easy, and early has an immense amount of value when it is pertinent to building a bigger squad picture and long-term planning. It's a natural symptom of big clubs scouting and recruitment operations becoming increasingly professionalized and sophisticated, they are searching for efficiencies anywhere.
Obviously, in terms of sequencing moves together, having players ready for pre-season training in the summer, ending up with a set of players who fit open roles individually and collectively, those have been massive perpetual problems for Spurs under Daniel Levy. It's a rake we step on every single time to the ENORMOUS detriment of the competitive position of the team. And that costs a huge amount of money even if you only care about the financial figures and don't give a damn about the sporting outcomes of the team.
Do you pay double on every transfer in order to pay a release clause and avoid that? Of course not, you wouldn't recoup that level of overpayment no matter how much on-field success you have. Even City wouldn't do that.
But I have never, EVER seen haggling and time wasting at a valuation this close to a release clause. Ever. Only Daniel Levy would do this, it is categorically insane management behavior that no person is good faith could see as anything other that gross incompetence, end of.