It was quite the gloomy and wet day from the time I arrived at my office, and continued that way until I called it quits on this roller-coaster Monday. Pretty much all I did was field calls from customers and other Realtors wanting to either show a listing of mine, or requesting additional information on them. There’s one newbie, whom I’d sternly insisted months ago, to not be emailing me requests for showings because my computer is not tied to my hip. Of course the reason she’s doing it, is her being of the belief everyone has their email tied to their smartphones. I’ve always considered a phone call or text message the best way for Realtors to communicate with each other.
I have to laugh to myself when considering how we humans are really dumbing down, yet not realizing it’s happening. Case in point. I’ve been noticing all the many using phones which you speak into, and it then converting your voice to text. That’s well and good, but what’s going to happen when our computers are so sophisticated that we no longer even have to type? The smartphones have already evolved to the point where you ask a a question, and the possible answers appear on their screens.
What’s really been creeping me out, is that nasty creature Amazon Echo which I swear has a very dark hidden agenda, and if anyone remembers “Big Brother is Watching”, I’d say that clever little computer is going to become so sophisticated that it’ll be making our decisions for us. Anyone who’s so weak to allow something like that in their homes, is in great need of a real life, which brings me to the conclusion that there are far too many people out there who don’t have anything truly productive to do other than play with those nasty machines. Cursive is well on its way out, and typing soon to follow.
While out driving today, I noticed far too many young ones texting while they were driving which is exceptionally annoying when seeing how they’re not fully paying attention to the road. And speaking of road, several days ago while driving down the highway near that new apartment house they’re building next to the mall, I had to make a quick stop because an 18-wheeler was stopped at the south side of that building, and likely making a materials delivery to the site. I didn’t worry about getting myself stopped, but the guy in a red truck behind me was traveling so fast, he had to jump in the next lane to keep from rear-ending me.
After I drove away from that incident, I couldn’t help wondering how many accidents are going to take place in that “blind curve” once it’s fully built-out. The entrance to it is in a questionable spot, and the way our winters can be, that curve gets pretty icy more often than not. Thinking forward about it, I can’t help believing there’ll be people crossing that highway either at night, during a snowstorm, or fog, and someone not seeing that poor devil in time, and a terrible accident occurring. I hope I’m 1,000% wrong, but knowing fully-well how that curve can be when our weather is bad, it almost stands to reason something like that’s going to happen. And don’t think there won’t be some side-swiping and rear-ending going on due to a driver having to stop quickly. Not to be sounding like I’m bashing a new build-out, but the architecture on that four-story monster leaves much to be desired. Oh well, who am I to judge?
One of my showings today took me to a home which has some of the most beautiful quarter-sawn oak woodwork. It’s no wonder that wood is so expensive these days, because the lasting beauty of it is no less than admirable. Unfortunately, some of the rooms were missing the capitals on the windows and doors which was a bit of a turn-off for my buyers, but I did assure them that there are woodworking shops in our area which can copy just about any vintage capitals.
I was asked why people took them off, and what I did discover some years ago, was that many homeowners were trying to make their vintage homes appear more mid-century modern, and by taking them off, created a more streamlined look. Another reason I’d heard about the removal of them, was that people who liked to wallpaper their walls, didn’t want to go to the extra effort to paper around them. Yes, that sounds like a pretty lame excuse for altering such beauty and style.
Another feature of the home I pointed out, were the nine foot ceilings which always gives a room more volume. Believe it or not, it was considered a century and more ago, that the taller the ceilings, the more healthy you’d be, because up toward the ceiling, was where all the “bad” air remained. When considering how much shorter people were on average a hundred years ago, those tall ceilings must’ve seemed sky-high.
I will share one thing most don’t know, and that being the fact that our Government would not insure FHA or VA loans on homes unless the living and bedroom areas had hardwood flooring installed, and that rule was in place up until the middle to late 1950’s. I had to laugh at a guy who was arguing with me about his father’s home which his parents had built, and his mother having a fit because there were hardwood floors in it, which after moving in, she had carpeted over. As chance would have it, the original plans were with the abstract, and wouldn’t you know it, his long-deceased father got a VA loan on it, because there was an official seal and sign-off by a VA rep. who’d done his final inspection on it before the loan was funded. After showing him that stamp and sign-off, he ended up being a believer.
Since the time I started selling real estate, I can say there’s been all the more hard-coded rules the VA and FHA have abolished, which for me, some were good, and should’ve been kept, while others, I was glad to see gone.
Tonight’s one-liner is: Remember, as long as you live, that nothing but strict truth can carry you through the world, with either your conscience or your honor unwounded.
