It started out as just another one of those days in the life of a Realtor up until about 9:30 a.m., and then came the rush of e-mails and phone calls. I have without question no doubt the reason some people usually get what they want is the non-stop badgering with the “in your face” verbiage as well as the continued talking over and over about the same thing until the weaker one caves. I like to present facts and leave people to make their decisions while others like to present flowery reasons why someone should do this or that. Oh and of course the canned responses. I can instantly recognize a canned response in when I’m questioning something, not before my sentence is finished the speaker already has the answer. Of course the answer is usually of a generic form and likely used in many other conversations. I exceptionally dis-like the mis-use of the word clearly. How many times have you heard someone say, “Clearly you must understand my position.”, or “Clearly you must be able to see the great value in this home.” Yes, I can still hear that word’s overuse in some of the most recent conversations with others. Using that word often simply confirms how weak their communications skills are. The ones that I’ve noticed using it the most, are mostly those of the “in your face” types who say or do just about anything to get what they want.
In visiting with an appraiser several days ago who’s been around for a number of years shared some interesting thoughts about how sales prices are all over the map. I gave my additional “take” on why some of the rock solid homes in good neighborhoods are taking a beating. Too many parents enabled their children and continue to do so to the point where they don’t want them buying something that needs work because their children didn’t develop the skills to make their own improvements. Most of the first-time buyers 30 years ago would start out with a 720 square foot two bedroom ranch, and after their incomes rose and bank accounts grew fatter, they would sell it because they needed more room for their growing families. We see far too many buyers purchasing at the top of their debt to income brackets. I only hope we are not moving towards another mortgage crisis like what happened in 2007. I also believe many of the rents in Mason City are too high which creates an incentive for tenants to purchase rather than remaining in a lesser priced rental so as to save money and freely decide when it’s time to purchase. I’m finding of late, the payments of some of the first-time buyers’ homes to be markedly less than what they were currently paying for rent. Now that absolutely does not make sense.
I’m starting to wish that text messaging never became an accepted part of our business-to-business practices. I’m still not accustomed to people texting information that could have been more appropriately sent in an e-mail or via a phone call. Information over-loading in the fastest and most simplistic form is where it seems to be heading.
Yes, today was filled distractions, harsh words, and lines of every type of communication possible to where I felt as though I was sitting in the middle of a watermelon patch trying to follow the runners to their beginnings so straighten their tangled vines. My appropriate new catch phrase is: “I had a watermelon vine day.”
