It was a pretty usual end of the month Friday with all the rental calls coming in, and for some reason, they were even calling before 8:00 am. I think with this weekend’s storm coming, the prospects of being able to get moved before there are snowbanks to climb, is finally sinking in.
Once again, I was reminded today, the need to check for water leaks in homes and apartments on a regular basis. A tenant was asked by an owner of an apartment if there were any faucets dripping or a toilet running because this past month’s water bill had doubled. The knee-jerk answer was, “Nope!” Well, about five minutes later the tenant called the owner back saying, “Oh, I just checked the toilet and I could hear water running but I don’t see it running in the bowl.” So much for adult tenants being aware of their surroundings. The owner was all the more miffed when the tenant then said something like, “Well you know, I’m not into the workings of a toilet.”
Isn’t it funny how the blame game works? I’ve learned from experience, there are all the many in our midst who work exceptionally hard at placing the blame on others to where you just want to keep still, turn, and walk away simply because of how ludicrous they appear, and because they’ve become so hard-coded with their reasonings, any attempt at changing them is nothing more than an exercise in futility. I guess that tenant should be all the more thankful the owner didn’t send out a bill to be paid by tenant for such negligence. But again with some, there’s no convincing of there being errors on their part.
We did manage to get 21 – 11th St. NE sold today after some back-and-forth negotiating. I’m exceptionally thankful it’s being purchased by an owner-occupant because most people don’t realize how closely tied I’ve been to the Oak Park Subdivision over these long years of marketing real estate in our City.
If you would ask me to drive you up and down those blocks, I could easily point out at least 3/4’s of the homes in that district that I’ve sold, and what’s even more amazing, there are more than a few that I’ve sold more than twice over, and should you be wondering where Oak Park is, it’s that area east of N. Federal beginning on 9th St. NE all the way to the underpass on Elm Drive, and then about three blocks north to 12th St. NE.
You’d be surprised how few rentals there are in that district, and the ones that are there, are taken care of to the point where you couldn’t tell if there are tenants living in them or owners. Another great feature about that subdivision is that all its alleys are paved which is a real bonus–especially during our winter months. That’s why so many of those owners have their garages entering from their rear alleys. Most don’t know that it’s part of a neighborhood watch program as well. With that said, please don’t ever dis-miss Oak Park as being a “marginal” neighborhood because it’s very much alive and well.
I’m still planning on hosting my public open house tomorrow at 1315 – 10th St. SE which will hopefully be considered a success when knowing there still are some die-hard buyers out there looking for their perfect first homes. I’m staying hopeful the sleet and/or snow won’t arrive until after it’s ended.
I would say the highlight of my day was having a heartfelt chat with a client of mine regarding a mean-spirited family we’ve both crossed paths with more times than we would’ve liked. Oh how the “movie reels” began to spin between us when speaking of their past transgressions!
One of my last comments was, “It was all a very long learning experience for me, which on the positive side, has made me all the more discriminative of possible long-term abuses that take place within families which on the outside appear to be all sugar and spice, but after those naughty monkeys arrive home, they’re entirely something different, and all the while keeping the general public clueless.”
There’s one particular evil-minded family that created many un-necessary negative ripples, which for decades, affected some darned good people which made their evil deeds all the more wrong. I’ll never understand as long as I live how long-term abusive people can live with themselves on a daily basis.
Tonight’s one-liner is: Mortal experiences give us the opportunity to assess what we’re doing with our own lives.
