In spite of getting to my office about an hour earlier his morning, it seemed as though I was chasing a tail-wind in attempts to keep up with all the calls, and “immediate” needs of others. I was beginning to think it was a full moon by the way in which the temperaments of people were spiking, and thank goodness I wasn’t pulled into such states of mind.
I would say the continued scratching around in the back alley of my building by all the various workers coming, making a mess, and then leaving for days at a time, needs to come to a complete halt. If the discord behind my office isn’t cleaned up more sooner than later, I’m going to be making some serious phone calls. I fully understand the mess they make on City property, but when it spills over onto private land without being at least a little thoughtful of the owner’s rights, that’s when my patience wears thin.
I’m still nervously waiting for a mortgage company to give their clear to close on a home that’s supposed to close tomorrow. The last time I looked before closing up shop, I’d say that lender will have to be a magician to get that to close on time. But, I did warn the buyers back before we wrote the offer that dealing with online lenders, and saying more times than not, they’ve gone past their closing dates. Irregardless what anyone says, I believe dealing with online banks is a crap shoot. But, in these times, there are all the more of our younger generation plugging themselves into those types of services.
Since I had a little project to get accomplished for one of my dear clients, I spent my noon hour working on it. I didn’t realize it took me so long until I looked at the clock and found it had taken me nearly two hours to complete. Oh well, it’s finished and my client is happy and that was the most important.
Sometimes without realizing it, we as Realtors find ourselves counselors of sorts to where we’re asked our opinions on things that are out of our fields of expertise. Well, one of today’s callers was bending my ear regarding life choices that only he was able to make. More than once I said, “I do want the best for you, but I can’t make your decisions for you because you’re the one that has to get it all sorted out.” When I hung up I was reminded how many times over the years there were people expecting me to make choices for them.
I have to laugh to myself when thinking about when from time to time being asked my professional opinion on matters regarding real estate, and wouldn’t you know it, I’d find later that they did just the opposite. You can bet every time that would happen, I’d be scratching my head while asking myself, “Why did they even ask me when they already had their minds made up.?” You can believe the number of contrarians in our midst are alive and well.
Another hour and a half of my time was spent in the Worth County courthouse today in attempts to get some documents filed and research done. I’d forgotten about the County Treasurer’s Office being in another building, and for some reason, they don’t even have a clearly visible sign out front to where I had to ask two different people where it was. Considering how frustrated I was when trying to locate it, you can be sure their office location is now burned into my memory. The second person I asked who happened to be a worker in a building across the street was good enough to say, “Don’t worry, I have people coming in here quite often asking where it is.”
In spite of their offices not being as “glossy” as Cerro Gordo’s, I’d say after being in three different ones up there today, every one of those County workers were very cordial and exceptionally helpful. Whenever I’ve been in Hancock County’s beautiful old Courthouse in Garner, I walk away wishing I could have an office there. They’re also very nice people to work with which makes me wonder if it’s just that small town mentality to where they consider it part of their jobs to be pleasantly helpful.
My last appointment of the day was to list a lower priced 3 bedroom home here in Mason City that offers a double garage, permanent siding, newer thermal windows, a privacy-fenced rear yard, and a whole lot more. Since it was a late appointment, I’ll have it online first thing tomorrow morning. I’m not looking for it to be on the market long because of its price. There aren’t many homes on the market of that size with all the extras this one offers, so we’ll see how quickly it sells. The only reason they’re selling is because of a job re-location to one of Iowa’s metro areas.
Tonight’s one-liner is: Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.
