Many times over the years I’ve heard the stories of people getting taken by tradespeople who’ve learned in a dark way how to manipulate homeowners into paying far more for improvements they wanted done on their homes and getting not only gouged on the price but also being left with terribly inferior work. Today I heard a real life story about an innocent older couple who trusted a man to do good work for a fair price.
After hearing the whole story, I was left nearly speechless by the degree in which those poor people were taken to the cleaners. That story went to my core because I’ve known those overly trusting homeowners for a very long time as well as how hard they worked for what they had, and to have some scoundrel fleece them, is nothing less than a great sin. I said to the relative, “If there’s a sub-Hell where the fires are even all the more consuming, that’s the place people like him need to go.” He couldn’t have agreed more and added, “I’m not a hating person, but what that man did to my relatives has familiarized me with the definition of hate.” I’ll never be able to understand why people do such things to others just to make a fast buck. Why can’t people make money the old fashioned way by earning it in an honest way? Since I’m finding more rouges in today’s world, I’m beginning to believe more and more people’s consciences are growing dark. Perhaps it’s also a learned behavior by those who’ve been led to believe money is the begin all and end all. I grow weary of people gloating over how much they paid for something along with how they fleeced someone else by selling something they owned for far more than it was really worth. After the gentleman left my office today I thought, “Well, there’s one guy whose going to spread the word about what several people did to his relatives, and I’m sure they’ll believe him because of his standing within certain respected circles.” I smiled later today to a colleague when saying, “Most people think I’ve forgotten the wrongs they’ve done to me in my profession, but little do they know how well I remember and continue to conduct myself with them accordingly.” Like my grandmother used to say, “If you hurt me once, it’s shame on you, but if you hurt me twice, it’s shame on me.” I think that’s a good mindset to have when dealing with some of the naughty monkeys we do business with on occasion.
I did have a good laugh today when speaking with a highly intelligent person who’s still working at learning some of our recent real estate slang words. He wasn’t sure what word was correct when talking about people who buy homes to fix up and then re-sell to make a quick buck. He first referred to it as flap house. I laughed and said, “It’s to flip a house.” He snapped back by saying, “Flip or flap. Who cares who’s sliding into third base!” I then exclaimed, “You’ve given the word flap a new definition for me!” “What’s that?” he questioned. I said, “When you flip a house it means you sold it and made money, but when you flap a house it means you barely walked away with your shirt.” He laughed and said, “You have quite the imagination don’t you?” Well, when you think about it, when hearing about someone flipping a house, you can congratulate them, but when hearing of another flapping a house, you can offer your condolences. When it becomes a flip or flap, we’ll all know where we’re at.
