Tomorrow is the Memorial Service for Norma Heiny which is being held at the First United Methodist Church here in Mason City. Having known and worked with her over the years, I can say without question she was a very kind, loving, caring, and above all, an exceptionally community minded person. When I was visiting her not so many years ago, I just happened to have my camera and was able to take a very moving photo of her and her lap dog. I’m going to look for that photo and if I find it, I’ll post it tomorrow. What I considered moving about it, was the complete contentment of the lady and the dog. Pets can sense discordant moods with their owners, and when you find one being so much at peace with its surroundings, especially when there’s a stranger in the room, that speaks volumes. I was terribly sad when hearing of her passing and I pray she didn’t suffer at the end. My memories of her will always be the kindest. I’m sure the church will be packed tomorrow with the many paying their final respects.
After yesterdays great disappointment with the agent who pulled a fast one on my buyers, I began thinking of others who’ve dealt similar hands over the years. Some of them are still selling real estate, others are retired, and the remainder are taking their dirt naps. One of them popped into my head this morning along with the unfolding drama. That particular situation involved an agent from another office and a buyer that was being represented by that agent, the sellers, and of course myself the listing agent. The agent showed the home two or three times to where I believed an offer was going to be made on it. Well, as chance would have it, the listing was due to run out in a day or two. I called the sellers and for some reason they were being resistive about renewing the listing which caused me to think something fishy was going on. I placed my last call to them via a message on their answering machine the last day of the contract and wouldn’t you know it, the seller arrived at my office the next morning with my yard sign in hand. I asked him what was going on and he nervously barked back, “I have to do whatever I have to do to get my house sold!” He couldn’t have left the office fast enough. Well, the home was listed by the buyer’s agent and an immediate sale took place with the sellers and that buyer. I was deeply offended by what that “professional” agent had done as well as the actions of my seller. Not but a week later, that agent showed up at our office and whispered to our secretary in a cavalier way, “I’ll bet Joe’s really upset with me right now.” Our secretary mentioned what was said several days later and that’s all I could say was, “What goes around comes around.” The craziest of all is my having run into the buyers of that home some years later with the buyer insisting I had the listing on it when she purchased it. Boy did I straighten her out in a big hurry. After what I told her she said, “You know, I wondered at the time why you didn’t have a sold sign posted after my offer was accepted, so now I know.” People who do things like that on a regular basis become so callous that they’ve likely forgotten nearly all of what they’ve done to others. That particular back stab was born not only out of greed, but also jealousy. We sometimes wish there’d be some completely disinterested party who’d fix all the worldly wrongs, but then we’d be left to wonder who fixes the fixer after all that fixing.
