The Other Swearing To It

More unexpected rain arrived, but at least it was short-lived. My heavens! The gusts of wind today in our downtown were something to talk about because just as I was walking around a corner, I was almost knocked-over by as it was barreling down one of our wind tunnels. It seems every year, the winds are arrive more often, along with coming in at higher speeds which I find very troubling.

My dear customers arrived right on time this morning for me to get an offer written on the property I showed them yesterday, and after a short chat about the price they wanted to start-off with, I sat down and wrote the offer for them and shortly after they left, I got in my car and drove it over to the listing agent's office, just to make sure it was properly delivered. We did receive a counter-offer from the seller, which the buyers countered on, but at this point in time, I'm afraid we're still too far apart, so we'll see what tomorrow brings.

The one thing I used to stress with sellers who'd owned their homes for short lengths of time, was the fact that equity doesn't build up that fast, which back before the pandemic hit, would oft times mean the sellers wouldn't be making any money on the sale after all their selling expenses were deducted from their proceeds.

Unfortunately, from the time our pandemic hit in 2020, that rule was thrown out the window because of how rapidly the values were increasing, which to this day, I believe somewhat artificial considering how much take-home pay our average residents receive.

When visiting with a delightful young couple this afternoon, I was brought fully up to speed on how much harder it is in these times to save money for a downpayment, let alone trying to budget for a much larger house payment considering how high our mortgage interest rates are right now. I'm just glad they're in a home that's safe, sound and overall, much easier on their budget. I'm sure their landlord is tickled pink over having two all-around responsible tenants.

There was more setting up of appointments to be done for showings tomorrow, and of course one of them which was recently listed, just got sold yesterday, which came as no surprise when seeing the list of homes that closed over these past ten days. My gosh! I still can't get my brain wrapped around people paying upwards of $500K for a 'used' home here in Mason City. I can understand someone paying cash if they've got suitcases full of it, but to go out and get a 90% mortgage at these interest rates, is telling me there are some people here in the city knocking down some pretty darned high salaries.

My heart still goes out to those struggling first-time buyers who're being forced out of the market because of how our home values have jumped, and it doesn't look like there's gonna be a correction anytime soon.

What disappoints me the most, is how the mentality has changed with many of those buyers, because back about 20 or more years ago, there'd be numerous first-time buyers looking for fixer-uppers, just so they could more quickly start building equity by making those much-needed improvements themselves. Unfortunately, many of our young have lost the ability to envision which will likely remain with them for the remainder of their lives. If I had my say regarding what is to be taught in our schools, there'd be a mandatory course on forward-thinking and envisioning. All thanks to our age of computers and AI, much of that has been taken away because all the answers are right there on the computer screens.

One of my dear clients and I had a very soulful conversation about how much we both stand our ground and push back on all of these customer service departments of companies who're using AI instead of real people, which is why I refuse to have any sort of bill-paying or online accounts, because it's just one more way of slowly but surely taking control of our lives.

While on the phone today with a customer service rep from our cable company, the gal wasn't exactly prepared for my pointed questions and comments, along with my challenging her company's policies regarding price-changes and the out-right lying that had taken place. Before I ended the call, I sternly corrected her for saying at least four times, “There's nothing more I can physically do for you.” Now in my book, her response should've been something like, “There's nothing more I can personally do for you at this time.” I almost wanted to say, “Well, what you can do, is open the window in your home office and jump out.” Thinking I had the problem corrected last month with a different customer service rep, I quickly discovered I was lied to at the time, and believe me, I'm not a happy camper. And wouldn't you know, today's rep couldn't confirm if I indeed called last month, because she had no idea how to access those records. What kind of set-up is that? For me, it was just another example of one person lying, and the other swearing to it.

Tonight's One-liner is: Disinformation is more than just lying: it's the denial and twisting of reality in order to present some desired image to the rest of the world.

original post ... https://niowarealty.net/life/2024/06/12/the-other-swearing-to-it/