There were calls that came in on several of my listings late this morning, and when I asked when they wanted to see them, I braced myself in hopes they didn’t want to look at them today. Thank goodness they chose to schedule them for warmer days ahead. At least there are buyers who have enough sense to not look at homes when our weather is so terribly frigid. Talk about first impressions being bad, can you imagine what an average person’s reaction would be when walking into, or should I say, getting “blown” into a home that’s more likely colder than it should be due it being vacant and its thermostat set lower so to save on fuel? At least tomorrow the wind shouldn’t be an issue because it looks like it was starting to go down with today’s sun.
Around noontime, a client of mine who lives in the sunbelt called to see how the sale of his income property is doing, and all the while making comments about their weather so to be sure I knew just how wonderful it’s been where they live. I think he’s subtly trying to get me to winter there, but I don’t think that’ll be happening any time soon.
With it now being the first of February, I was back at busying myself with my first of the month duties. As chance would have it, a tenant of one of my clients stopped by to ask a question about his deposit being used as his last month’s rent since he just purchased a home. He certainly didn’t like my answer which was, “Absolutely not.” I have no clue where exiting tenants get those crazy ideas when believing that their security/damage deposits can be substituted for their last month’s tenancy rent. Whomever got that started should’ve taken a crash course in our Iowa landlord/tenant laws.
Thank goodness a customer just happened to walk into my office while that wimpy tenant was crying the blues about how much time and money he’d already spent thus far just to get it ready for occupancy. Since being familiar with a lion’s share of homes in Mason City, it didn’t surprise me of his extra efforts after telling me his new “castle’s” address. While he was walking out, I reminded him that he’d better have his last month’s rent paid to his landlord before the 5th. Sometimes, you just have to walk away from people who continue to brand themselves as victims, because their state of “victim” is nearly always self-induced. I may be sounding wicked when saying, “Perhaps he’ll have to trade in his expensive new car so to help with his current financial squeeze.
I’m thinking it was today’s weather that caused me to be brutally honest with a few, and especially after scolding a financial person for something that he erroneously told me several months ago. Yesterday, while going over some files, I discovered what he told me, ended up being exactly opposite of what he assured me months ago. I reminded him that just because I’m older than 30 years, and have a head full of gray hair, doesn’t automatically place me in the bucket of all the rest of our world’s dotards.
When knowing it was going to be a very cold one today, early this morning I decided to do the “crock pot” thing for this evening’s meal, and then thinking a moment and then cleverly saying to myself, “With it feeling like me living high in the Andes, I think it to be chilly enough for Chili in Chile. Ha! Gotcha! Are you up for a bowl?
