A Tin Cup In Both Hands

Another delightful day arrived with sunny skies and little or no wind, but unfortunately, the temps started creeping into the 80’s later this afternoon which not the most comfortable. One of the clerks in our downtown mentioned today how much cooler our July has been which I fully agreed, so at least there are others who’re noticing the difference.

Yesterday I purchased at a deep discount, two large but not so healthy-looking tomato plants which were planted in a vacant spot in my garden, and only because the seeds I thought I saved off of my favorite slicing tomatoes, ended up being those San Marzanos which I hadn’t planned on planting this year, and only because I canned enough to last thru this winter. I was shocked to find green tomatoes in the shape of a San Marzano starting to grow on all five of those tomato plants I started from seed. Oh well, that was another live and learn experience. I’ll likely be making more sauce out of them and then canning it.

It was another semi-quiet day in real estate, but I did manage to keep myself busied with getting that broker’s opinion completed and sent out. For the first time in a very many years, I went paging thru that huge file of broker’s opinions which I’d been saving since I started doing them a very many years ago. Talk about walking down memory lane! I paged-thru about a quarter of that file until I had to stop, and only because I was getting overloaded with resurrected memories which I thought I’d completely forgotten. There was one letter that was sent to me from a long-deceased Realtor who was chastising me for ‘taking’ a buyer from him, when in fact, the person who ended up purchasing the home I had listed, wasn’t even working with him. There were several other accusations he made in that letter which were completely untrue. It’s too bad he’s not alive and still selling real estate in these times, because he’d certainly have his eyes fully opened.

Just for kicks and giggles, I picked up the phone and called a colleague, just to read the content of that toxic letter. Since my colleague wasn’t in real estate at the time, it was quite an enlightenment as to how our MLS worked, because back in those days, Realtors were made more accountable in regards to the solicitation of another agent’s clients, and oft times they’d be chastised and fined for it.

I couldn’t help mentioning again how aggressive our players have become to where it’s almost a dog eat dog scenario, and believe you me, I don’t like it one bit. So many of them are filled with desperation to the point where if they don’t make a ‘kill’, they’ll be begging on our street corners with a tin cup in each hand. Keep in mind, I’m not just zeroing-in on real estate agents, because just about every other profession which involves the selling of goods and or services, are also at it, which is why I work very hard at keeping those who’ve worked hard for fair prices, at the top of my list.

My colleague shared a saying I’d never heard before which is a dead-ringer for today’s mentalities, which went, “They’re now reaching, grabbing and growling”. Oh my goodness! That’s exactly what competitive wild animals do. What a perfect description of today’s business world, which is appearing all the more to be in the state of devolution. You can be sure I can now think of many who’d fit that description. Truth be told, nearly every other nuclear family unit contains such mindsets, and that’s including mine as well.

One of my client’s relatives called today asking if I’d be able to assist him in getting his out of town acreage sold, and in spite of it being a little farther out than I normally go, I was more than happy to offer my services. As of now, I have an appointment to meet with him early this next week, and after hanging up, I started a file on it and began my research. If it’s as salable as I’m thinking it is, I doubt if it’ll be on the market very long, and only because of the number of buildings and size of the home. Judging how these acreages have been selling, it should be a quick sale.

With my late afternoon being free, I spent some extra time catching up on all the news feeds. One of the most troubling articles I read, was a recent discovery regarding Greenland once having little or no ice, and since they now have proof that it was definitely a ‘green land’ before the ice age hit, our entire world will be in for a crude awakening if all of its ice melts, and only because all that water will raise our sea levels a minimum of twenty feet, and that doesn’t include our rapidly melting glaciers in Antarctica. Can you imagine how many millions of people will be displaced if that happens? Just think about how many major cities we have in our world which are located on ocean fronts.

Another article spoke about the rapid rise in our Arctic’s temps, along with the added rain they’re getting which is causing the permafrost to melt. Unfortunately most people haven’t a clue as to how much methane would be released into our atmosphere which would more so exacerbate our global warming. The scientists still haven’t come to any real conclusion as to why our Arctic’s temps are increasing faster than the rest of the world. I tell you what, when Mother Nature’s status quo has been altered by un-natural events, that’s when she’s on a vengeful burn.

As of right now, I don’t have any real estate appointments scheduled for tomorrow, so it looks like I’ll be out working on non-real estate related projects. At least I won’t be accused of reaching, grabbing and growling. Not to worry, it hasn’t been in my DNA from the time I came down the ‘chute’.

Tonight’s One-liner is: Because thought has by now been perverted into the solving of assigned problems, even what is not assigned, is processed like a problem.

Joe Chodur

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