Last night’s wind and cold was quite the experience. Most of us can certainly attest that once the temps start dropping down to such wicked degrees, our homes start making those creepy noises at night to where you think the cold has awakened them. Thank goodness the wind went down before the sun came which meant we didn’t have to deal with another bone-chilling day.
My first appointment this morning was in Clear Lake which took longer than I’d expected, and thank goodness I didn’t have another one close behind. The bulk of my time spent there was helping a gentleman find some real estate documents needed, along with attempting to explain the process of selling a home. I think he now has everything he needs as well as being in a better understanding of title transfer procedures.
Before I left, I played with his cute little dogs and somehow got on the subject of how some dogs think it’s just OK to eat the poo of other dogs. I mentioned how disgusting it is whenever seeing dogs do that. I guess it comes from dirty habits “puppy farm” puppies get started when likely being confined in smaller spaces and not eating properly.
What just about floored me is when he said, “If you have two dogs and one likes to eat the other’s poo, you just mix pineapple chunks in their food and you’re guaranteed to never see one eating the other’s again.” I was in shock to hear that, and he went on to say, “There’s something in pineapple that makes dog poo taste really bad, and just for your information, one of my dogs had the same problem until I fed them both pineapple.” Since I was laughing so much, I forgot to ask him where he heard about that cure. Too funny!
When I arrived back at my office, I spent most of the day returning phone calls and emails. It seemed nearly every conversation was weather related except for one caller who was talking about a three car pile-up out near Newman School this morning. I only hope there were no serious injuries, and when I heard it was a back-to-back rear-end situation, the first thing I thought of was it being cell phone related.
I don’t know if it’s me noticing them all the more, or if there’s a rise in drivers playing with their cell phones while on the road. What really angers me are those who don’t signal when they’re turning because I’ve personally seen them playing with their cell phone with their left hands. There’s no question how addictive they’re becoming and I’m not so sure where it’s all going to end.
My late afternoon was to show three homes to some buyers who called on one of my listings. Since they’re from out of town, they’re not up to speed with locational values. As I was leaving the last one, I asked them to refine their specifics so I can focus more on what they’re really looking for. Of course one of my questions was, “How much work are you willing to do in a home?” The answer I got was pretty much a directive for me not to be showing them anything that’s in need major updates. After telling me what their price range, it’s going to be a struggle finding them something acceptable.
In between appointments I was working on a new game plan for advertising the homes I have for sale these coming months. As with nearly all businesses, there’s been an evolution taking place with the of marketing real estate. I won’t be making such a drastic change at first, but there’ll definitely be a re-allocation of advertising monies this year. I happened to mentioned to someone today, “I have no problem paying for advertising, but when I find there’s no visible return on the thousands of dollars my office spends each year, then there’s definitely something wrong.”
Tonight’s one-liner is: Silence is the most perfect expression of scorn.
