My goodness how high the temps rose today! Later this afternoon, the Downtown temperature registered 98 degrees. For sure today’s temperature will have broken a record for our City. Never to my recollection has it ever been so hot this early in the season. If this is what we’re going to be expecting these coming months, there’s going to be some serious struggles with our trees, shrubs and gardens. Let’s hope the drying-out of the Southwest isn’t moving our way.
My first appointment of the day was to attend a closing on a home I sold to the nicest people you’d ever want to meet. Because everything went so smoothly from beginning to end, the husband teased me a little by saying, “I’ve decided I’m going to adopt you as my step-brother.” I paused a moment and then replied, “Hey, I think that would be a great idea.” I did insist I’d stop by whenever seeing him out on the large side-patio of his new home. While driving away, I dare say I can’t remember the last time someone said they were going to adopt me. In years gone by, there’ve been a few dear old ones who’re now gone who’d kiddingly say something similar. For what it’s worth, I’ve taken them all as compliments.
Just as I walked back into my office, it was time for me to head out to meet a gentleman at a home that’s being readied for sale. Since I was fully familiar with it from years past, I did my quick walk-thru and then gave him a list of things that needed to be done before I’d place it on the market. I was being challenged a little, but he finally understood that buyers in these times, expect more of a presentation than in past years, and we can thank HDTV for that change in mentality. Before leaving, I encouraged him to get everything done as quickly as possible because our market could go south real quick if the interest rates continue to climb.
By the time I was finished, it was the hour to grab a quick bite to eat, so I headed over to McDonald’s for a small burger. Since it wasn’t even Noontime, I knew our temps were going to be well into the 90’s because my vehicle was already registering 88 degrees. I was surprised how few people were at the drive-thru which must’ve been due to the heat.
Back at office, I gobbled my burger and then began returning phone calls. One of my colleagues called to visit about how our market is continuing to contract which is going to be bad news for a number of agents who’ve not built-up solid banks of clients and customers. I did mention we’re just beginning to see how brutal the competition is getting, which is only the beginning, because I remember very well how agents fought over those few buyers we had during the Savings and Loan Crisis, and the over-load of homes for sale.
It wasn’t unusual to show as many as twenty or thirty listings before a given buyer would purchase. I’ll never forget the interest rates at the time, peaking-out at 16 1/2 percent on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. They did level-off at 10% for a few years to the point I still remember the factor for a 30 year mortgage at ten percent being $8.77 per thousand. Can you imagine what would happen to the values of homes if our 30 year fixed rates went back up to ten percent?
With a little time to kill, I stopped over to check on the progress of a home that’s undergoing a major face-lift, but unfortunately the workers weren’t there, so I head off to my next appointment, and since I arrived earlier than expected, I proceeded to get the home unlocked and turn on all the lights before the buyer arrived.
It was a good showing, but unfortunately we got button-holed by a neighbor, so there we stood for far too long listening to the neighborhood “scoop”. While driving back to office, I was beginning to wonder if my buyer ended up getting a little spooked by that overly-long conversation with a nosey neighbor. I can’t begin to tell you how much I really don’t like neighbors taking the liberty to horn-in on home showings. I couldn’t imagine myself doing such a thing. I fully understand a buyer approaching a neighbor, but not a neighbor making such a move.
After my showing was over, I proceeded to drive over to several of my recent sales and place sold riders on my for sale signs. The grass on one of them was getting pretty tall, so I’ll have to call the owner tomorrow to get it cut. This heat is really making the grass grow quickly in some areas, and even more so the creeping charlie which I’ll be spraying with a less toxic recipe I was told about earlier this week which is the following:
To get rid of creeping charlie, completely dissolve 10 ounces of borax with 3 gallons of warm water and spray over 1000 square feet of lawn containing the weed. This is the proper dosage to more safely get rid of your ground ivy (creeping charlie) without killing your turf grass. The borax solution will work within a week when the leaves of the creeping charlie start turning brown.
I’d heard about such a mixture in the past, but never had anyone give me the ratio for making it. I’ll let you know how it works.
I read an article today about Lech Walesa’s speech he recently gave here in America regarding Russia’s aggression and what the free world should do to stop people like Putin. Since he was the one who started the freedom movement in a Polish shipyard and ended up being the first President of Poland after they freed themselves from Russia’s hold, I’d say he understands such mindsets far better than most because he was there.
Tonight’s One-liner is: Will minus intellect constitutes vulgarity.
