With it being our last day of the month, mine was filled with more calls and walk-ins which kept me hopping nearly the entire day. I’m still working on two offers that don’t seem to be going anywhere, and of course there are other agents involved which creates all the more lines of communication. Whatever does happen with those two, I’ll know I’ve done my best and leave it at that.
I may sound like an “Obermeister” when speaking about some of the ways in which some of my novice colleagues do business, but all too often I have to hold my tongue because some day they’ll “get it”, when it comes to real estate practices.
For example, there was an agent texting me back a counter-offer from a cell phone stating the buyer had raised his offer by $101,000.00. Hmmm. I’m wondering what my seller would’ve thought if I relayed that erroneous offer to him. I text the agent right back with a big “?” and re-text the amount back to her. What made me bristle all the more, was that agent texting me back saying, “Oh I wasn’t paying attention because I’m driving up to the Twin Cities.” That’s a good way to get in a very bad accident on the Interstate wouldn’t you say?
Yes, I can be a bit demanding, and sometimes short, but what must one do when so-called professionals do such things. We all make mistakes, but when conducting business in such fashions, it opens the doors for all the many more.
You do remember me saying how I blame bad parents for the way their naughty monkey children act. Well, I also blame the managing brokers of some of our real estate offices for not giving instruction to their newbies on how to conduct themselves. In the old days, a naughty agent was considered a reflection of their broker, and believe you me, I’ve had my go-arounds with some of those brokers over the years, and sometimes it wasn’t the least bit pretty.
I’ll not forget the afternoon so many years ago when I followed a broker out of my office and while out on the sidewalk, I proceeded to chastise him for telling the most filthy of dirty jokes in mixed company. The sharp words I delivered were evidently so cutting, he walked to his car speechless, but after he crawled in, he slammed the door so hard, I thought for sure he’d broken the glass. On the positive side, from that day forward, whenever I was in a gathering with him present, I never heard but one off-colored joke out of his mouth. Let’s hope he’s finally realized years later, that in those days, such language in mixed company was way over the line.
I have a closing tomorrow morning, and hopefully all will go well at the bank. The seller moved out several days ago, and when I went and checked the residence, I couldn’t imagine the buyer having any complaints about it being below standard. Now if all the rest of my sellers would leave their homes in such condition before closing, I would be in 7th Heaven.
When looking up something on Zillow today, I began noticing some of the homes they had posted, and the more I looked, the more I found erroneous information being given. On one home, Zillow had its last sale price being $20K more than it actually sold for. Now taking it one step more, just think how many people who’re looking at homes on Zillow, believing all their numbers and statistics to be hard and fast truths.
Of course our City Assessor’s office has a great deal of false information on their website/records which of course the general public and Realtors believing all to be correct. For example, there’s a home that recently sold which the agent posted as being a wood frame structure, and me being certain it was the listing agent’s error, but when looking at the City Assessor’s site, it was their error, which was stating that home being wood frame, when in reality, the bulk of its exterior walls are composed of solid stucco over tile block. Perhaps the only reason they “thought” it was frame, was because a previous owner sided over it with vinyl siding. Wait until the new owner gets his first heat bill this winter, because those stuccoed-over clay block walls have zero insulation in them. Wouldn’t you say it’s just another example of garbage in and garbage out?
If any of you are thinking about adding any landscaping around your homes or wanting perennials for your flowerbeds, now is the time to purchase because you can bet all our local plant vendors are drastically reducing their prices. I stopped out to Fleet Farm to pick up some deer netting stakes, and while there, I did a quick walk out to their garden center. The perennials and annuals are 75% off right now, and the trees and shrubs are reduced down to 50%, so if you’re even thinking about adding to your greenery, please spend some time and hit all the garden centers because you may find something you’ll like.
I’ve been hearing all the more fireworks going off in the night, and will be very glad when the 4th of July is over because I really don’t like listening to that noise. I mentioned to a customer today how surprised I am at how all the more people are purchasing fireworks this year. I haven’t heard if Clear Lake is having theirs, and I’m hoping not, because these growing numbers of China-virus cases are growing fearful.
On another note, I questioned my words yesterday regarding those planters which used metal wires as planting guides, so I went searching late last evening. Oh my goodness! I couldn’t believe what I was reading about “Check-row Planting”, and still wondering how I managed to remember those fields and ancient planters. Too creepy.
Tonight’s one-liner is: A wise system of education would teach us how little we know, and how much more we still have to learn.
