Due to my having awakened far too early and unable to get back to sleep, I ended up at office far earlier, and since I had research to do, I figured I might as well get working on it with the extra free time. When I don’t get my normal amount of rest, what normally happens, is my being at the borders of slap-happy by the time the day is over, and it’s a good thing I didn’t have any appointments to show homes after the hour of three because I could tell I was nearing the point of saying something I’d be regretting.
As soon as an appropriate time to make phone calls arrived, I began returning calls from yesterday, and after those were taken care of, I called some clients about a home that was recently listed, and ended up scheduling an appointment for them to look at it this afternoon.
The remainder of my morning was spent meeting with a contractor who absolutely did not like being questioned or advised on his work, as well as normal business protocols. We did end up getting it resolved, but you can be sure I’ll not use him again because I will not put myself in a position of being yelled at because I was simply questioning his business practices. We’d talked several weeks ago about another project which I would possibly hire him to complete, but after seeing someone acting like an angry caged gorilla, that thought has been flushed. I’d give him a day or two to finally realize he’s now forever lost a paying customer, and for sure he’ll not even realize I’d never have his name on my list of “go to” contractors.
I mentioned what happened to a dear friend of mine, and his comment was, “It’s becoming more the norm of our younger crowd where they absolutely despise constructive criticism.” While driving back to office, I couldn’t help thinking how much wider our generational gap has grown to where I have to calibrate my mind to their cultures before opening my mouth. I blame it on parents and social medias, as well as the “class” of people they consider their like-kinds.
A call came in this afternoon from a guy asking about 207 N. Hampshire, and since I had an hour free, I agreed to meet him and his wife over at the house for a viewing. The showing went well, and fortunately the neighbor was outside and of course the buyers had to walk over and ask about the neighborhood. As expected, the comments were all good. For whatever reason, the buyers wanted to stay behind so they could get a good “feel” for the home’s surroundings. I did mention that I’d be back later to get my seller’s lawn mowed which for some reason hadn’t been been attended to. When questioning my seller about it, she said her “lawn guy” mentioned earlier this week that he was going over to mow it. Well, that was a lie and a half.
Upon return to office, I changed my clothes and headed back over to the house to get that overly-tall grass mowed. It took me longer that I thought, and mostly due to my having to mow much slower to keep my mower from stalling. That was today’s paying it forward for an elderly person. After being there for close to an hour, I was getting to like that charming little neighborhood all the more. There’ve been a whole lot of buyers who’e missed the boat on that one, and from what I’m suspecting, I’d wager today’s buyers are “flippers” which would actually be a good thing.
Since I was out on the east side of town, I stopped at Hy-Vee to pick up a few things, and since I had my work clothes on, it was a quick in and out. Thank goodness there wasn’t anyone within who recognized me with my “Farmer Brown” clothes on.
Late this afternoon, I received a message from another agent saying the offer I submitted earlier was accepted by the sellers, so it looks like we’re past square one with another sale for the week. I was happy to have seen that listing early this morning, as well as being able to get my buyers in to see it right away. It couldn’t have been a better match-up for my buyers.
In spite of my having to dispense with a personal project I had today, it turned out quite well. I’m hoping to have a good chunk of free time after playing at St. Paul Lutheran to get working on what I had planned today. It’s actually a good thing because I believe it’s supposed to be warmer tomorrow than it was today. I’ll be working a little faster because I have a 4:00 PM appointment for a second showing tomorrow afternoon which I can’t miss.
I happened to come upon an article last evening which talked about this inflationary “loop” we’re getting caught up in which is a growing concern for our economists. The thrust of that article was the fact that more workers are wanting higher wages, and for the companies to keep them, they’ve been having to raise them. The down-side of this scenario, is that the prices for goods and services are being passed on to our consumers, and since many of our consumers are those same workers wanting higher wages, they’re back at their employers wanting more, and unfortunately it’s turning into a vicious circle.
It’s popped in my mind more than once today regarding this inflationary spiral, and what’s troubling me the most, is the effect it’s going to have on those with fixed incomes, and mainly those being our elderly. You can be sure their Social Security checks won’t be getting much of an upward adjustment, and when they do increase them, those figures are based on past statistics which means if we do enter a run-away inflationary period, our seniors will be the ones suffering the most. How unfortunate.
Tonight’s One-liner is: Mother Nature cannot be tricked or cheated because she will give up to you the object of your struggles, only after you have paid her price.
