Just Because

 

By happenstance, I ran across this photo. It was taken 24 years ago.
Bonus Mom was 54.
I miss her dearly. 

MLS Pictures--Wallpaper and Weirdness Edition

Jane and I have been zooming this week. For grins, while on our call, we started looking at houses in other parts of the country and broke into giggle fits. Sometimes it is fun to have a friend in the biz.

In some cases, we have been trying to figure out what the agent was thinking when he shot a photo of the vacuum. Or, why on earth people thought that choice of wallpaper was appropriate. And who puts white carpeting in the bathroom? 

We have looked at fixer-uppers. One home we were pretty sure the folds of the carpet were the shape of a dead body. We have looked at 5,000 square foot starter-mansions where we couldn't figure out with so much room, why there was no laundry space? And who needs to paint their fireplaces lime green? There have been homes where there is an obvious divorce. Others where there is an obvious lack of attention to detail. It is nice to see that bad real estate pictures aren't limited to just Arizona. 

Here are a few I found. Maybe wallpaper is your thing? I grew up in the 1970s, when wallpaper was all the rage. It isn't for me. But apparently it is very popular in some parts of the country.   

Not just wallpaper, but pink wallpaper. 

The wallpaper clashes with the cultured marble counter. 

Wallpaper, parquet floors, granite counters and circus-tent curtains. 

Green fireplaces. In two rooms!!! 

Someone painted over the wallpaper. They didn't like it either. 

Tell me those aren't legs under that carpet. Please. 

We decided the limb was to a live person. 

This house boasts a bathroom. 

Yes, someone took a photo of the vacuum in the pantry. 

An open floorplan. 

On the Fence

I got an e-mail to apply for the Professional Development Committee. At first--and for several hours--I was confused. Wasn't that the umbrella committee that covered the Grievance/High Inquisitor Squad folks? Why was I getting a personalized invite to join a committee I already belong to? 

Finally, it dawned on me. I belong to the Professional Standards Committee. The Professional Development Committee is the committee I also sorta belong to that holds the auditions for the future teachers and monitors zoom classes. In 2020 I was a member of this committee. Unlike Professional Standards, which has a three-year commitment, Professional Development Committee is a one year obligation. And I can't say that I'm complaining about it. 

At one time I really wanted to teach real estate classes. Maybe part of me still does. But I'm not feeling it right now. That could partially be because I'm limited to zoom education classes. It could also partially be that Beth, who hired me for her personal real estate school, obviously has no confidence in my ability--though I don't agree with Beth's assessment. I don't even care if she has no confidence in my ability. But the experience working with her wore me down.  

Teaching is a labor of love. The teaching committee is a labor of patience. Part of me isn't ready to give this up. However, I do think this isn't the right season for me to be teaching. That I'm ok with. I'm not planning on walking away from teaching opportunities. But I'm not seeking them out either. The ten hour (plus monitoring) commitment each year isn't a big deal. And it can't hurt to stay connected. 

I will need to think more about deciding to apply for a 2021 role in this committee.  

There are 3,950 Homes Currently For Sale

This time of year comes with expenses. Or, as we like to call them around the ol' Sunshine household, "tax write offs." Today I paid my errors and omissions insurance, computer licenses and my GoDaddy fees. I still have my MLS and Association dues to pay. However, I don't see that happening by the end of the year. 

Actually, I would rather have work to justify keeping all of these expenses than just paying them and hoping for the best. 

What I didn't pay for was advertising expenses. Nobody is moving right now anyway. Everyone who has a home, is planning on living there for a bit longer. I can't say I blame them. 

Patrick-isms

My seven year old Nephew is hanging out with the Sunshine family for a couple of weeks while school is out. This way his parents don't have to pay for child care and we Sunshines can spoil him. Win-win. 

Patrick* is super-smart, and given he is my brother's child, my youngest sibling deserves this level of challenge in his life. However, I'm not sure my sister-in-law agrees. Sometimes (like yesterday) when Patrick talks to me, I start thinking of what life must have been like for DaVinci's mother or Edison's mom. Just like those mothers, my sister-in-law is a saint. 

Anyway, I don't have to raise the guy, so what comes out of Patrick's mouth is just stinkin' cute. On our ride from North Phoenix to Mesa Tuesday he told me in great detail about the difference in how nuclear reactors work compared to how nuclear bombs work. I don't really know if he is right or wrong, but it sounded good to me. 

Patrick also explained that I needed to ease up on my, "no explosions" stance in my home because he can "handle" a controlled explosion so if I would please just allow him to do what he needs to do, there won't be a problem. Auntie gave him a hard-no. He generously said he would be willing to revisit this later after I had time to think about it. 

And finally, I got an earful about Big Ben--which is actually a 13 ton bell, not a clock tower. The tower is the Elizabethan Tower where the clock and bell reside. The tower is 30 stories high and there are "about" 365 steps leading up to the bell--the second Big Ben--as the first was 16 tons and was broken from a bombing during World War 2. The clock is not electric because it was put in before there was electricity back when, "everything was in black and white." 

*His middle name. 

Dee's Crazy Standards

Dee and her Merry Band of Felons are looking to buy and sell as soon as possible. The Felon in question lives in North Phoenix, but needs to be closer to Dee and the rest of her gang. So, as soon as she finds a place for this guy, they will then sell where he lives now. Which is great for me, but not so much for them because--in case I forgot to mention this--there are very few homes for sale. 

Anyway, this morning Dee found THE PERFECT HOME and wanted to jump on it. This 85 year old, 900 square foot, three bedroom, one bath home on Buckeye and 19th Avenue already had three offers on it after six hours on the market. But what the heck! Let's make it four! 

The only major tid-bit holding back the enthusiasm came from some covertly worded phrase found in the super-secret realtor remarks. "Buyer must be flexible about the closing date because the seller needs to find somewhere else to live." 

I'm not even sure what that means to be honest. Does the seller need six months to scrape together a down payment? Is escrow supposed to be open indefinitely until the seller gets around to packing up? What if the buyer's interest lock expires and rates go up? And trust me, they can't go much lower. What if--and I don't foresee this from what I'm reading, but never say never--there is another housing crash in the middle of this indefinite escrow and the house doesn't hold its value? What if the seller decides they don't have to keep up the maintenance? What if the buyer or seller lose their jobs over the next few months while we are waiting to close? 

Contracts have dates for reasons. If I were to have structured the deal, I would have let the seller rent back the property for an additional thirty days after escrow at market-rent. That might have been a reasonable solution. Dee however was realizing that this might be the kind of crazy she didn't need and stepped away. She subscribes to my reasoning that the deal of the decade comes along once a week. It is nice to have clients like that. 

I So Didn't Feel Better

The auditions on Friday were interesting. One person nailed it--though I did put in my comments section that her saying, "You don't know jack..." could be considered by wider audiences as vulgar. I also suggested her telling a group of adult learners that she prayed to God asking for Him to just kill her now was perhaps not the best use of an example of something she found unbearable. 

The other four auditions were various levels of tedious. Two worked in the financial planning world and want to teach real estate agents about money-type things. The guy who spent 15 minutes promoting his book and saying that agents could have residual income by giving referrals was shocked to find out that agents cannot take or give monetary referrals to non-agents without losing their licenses. That kind of ruined his entire schtick. He was the better of the two money-gurus. 

We also had someone who had been an agent as long as I have and she did ok, but wasn't terribly dynamic. But hey, at least she knew how to talk to grown-ups!

Then we had Barbara. 

Barbara did not completely grasp that she was auditioning in front of a panel who would be deciding if she had a future teaching at the association and that her part was to only last 15 minutes. She started her presentation by telling her panel of reviewers her rules for her classroom and asking for participation from us panelists that we fully would follow her rules. She let us know these were hard-rules and she would be lording over us (the panel) from that point forward with an iron fist as if we were in some sort of military-based junior high full of delinquents. 

She then had only 10 minutes to wow us with her brilliance. Which she didn't. 

Beth, who was part of the panelists, sent me a text half way through Barbara's audition. It said--and I'm not making this up: "This should be making you feel better." 

Better about what? Barbara was drowning and didn't even think to ask for water wings! I felt terrible for the woman. Nobody wants to see such a train wreck. However, I was curious and I know better than to be catty with Beth, so I replied, "How so?" 

Beth's reply was, "She has zero instructor skills."  

That should make me feel better?! 

Now, I am sure but that was probably some sort of compliment to me. Right? After all, Beth might think I have at least some instructor skills. Hopefully. However, Beth had been bemoaning to the group when we started about how she's been teaching this six hour contract class all by herself lately (the class I was team-teaching with her earlier in the year and she hasn't invited me back to teach). But I can't think of any reason why else she would have sent me the note. Marty proffered the theory that maybe Beth thinks I am too discouraged to teach. That might be true if Beth ever got around to inviting me to teach again she would find out the answer. 

Perhaps One Audition Will Be in E-mail Etiquette

I happen to sit on a committee that decides who will be teaching at the local Association. Throughout the year, we have listened to the auditions of various folks and decide who will be hired to teach. Beth--the owner of the real estate school I have taught at--also sits on the committee. I would like to someday teach at the Association, but I'm not into Zoom teaching and at this moment, I don't feel like I have enough experience under my belt to do so. Plus, I've had a few other things going on. 

The auditions have traditionally been 15 minutes. Last August, after I missed a meeting, Beth sent me the following text: "You are going to wish you auditioned yesterday. We had 2 auditions on Tuesday and they only had to do 15 minutes. Going forward all have to do the full three hours for an audition."

That did nothing for me wanting to teach, much less audition. And it did nothing for my opinion of Beth either. But, that's for another blog. 

However, because I might want to teach in the future, I answered the call to sit in on today's audition. Now to be fair, the e-mail went out right after Thanksgiving and it covered the following: there was going to be an audition. It would be on December 18. It is a three hour audition. If you can commit to the entire three hours, and want to participate as a panel member, reply to this e-mail. Then the coordinator added these famous words: "If you do not reply to this e-mail you will not be invited to the meeting on the 18th. Please keep in mind it is going to be 3 hours long."

Not to brag or anything, but I actually read the entire e-mail and I replied that I could attend as a panelist. But, that's just me. 

Apparently other people also replied they could attend because we have a meeting scheduled for later today. 

And what do you know! There are a lot of whiney babies on my committee who are insisting on "Replying All" to the e-mail thread. "What do you mean it is a three hour meeting? Why would we do something like that?... That seems like such a time-waster... Sorry, I can't stay for the duration. I have other obligations..." and lots more outrage from committee members who are annoyed that their Friday morning during a pandemic is being fraught with something they volunteered to do. So, the e-mails have been flying and complaints are being lodged and for the love of all that is pure and righteous, why can't these folks just have private conversations? 

Nobody, however, has addressed my raised eyebrow: we have six auditions scheduled for today--not one person speaking for three hours. All six auditions are15 minutes each and then the committee (those of us who will be there now that several have bowed out) will discuss. Yep, you read that right. Beth--who is co-chair and knew the truth--purposely told me each audition would be three hours. According to Beth, if I wanted to audition, I had to prepare a three hour class. Nope. Not the case. 

I will be at today's auditions. All six of them. Beth is showing up but apparently has to bow-out early. She was one of the reply-all outraged.  

Who You Know

Within the last 11 hours I got two phone calls from past clients asking me for advice. Both were related to sellers who have their homes in a trust. 

Phone call 1: Seller (his grandmother-in-law) is 94. Her home is in a trust and the real estate agent is asking for the trust documents because the house is now in escrow. Does she need to provide these documents to the agent? I should mention, the house is in another state. 

After going through, "I'm not licensed in that state and this is my best unofficial-off-the-record guess," disclaimer, I gave him this: in order to convey title, the title company needs to prove who owns the property. If the home is in a trust, the title company has to verify this. If the agent is calling, the seller probably ignored the 583 phone calls/text messages/smoke signals from the title company and is now asking the agent to help get this document. If the seller is unwilling to give this to the agent (and please! Be unwilling to give this to the agent, IT IS NOT INFORMATION THE AGENT NEEDS TO KNOW), she can have her attorney directly contact the title officer and coordinate the right documentation. 

"What if she just doesn't want to provide it?" my caller asked. 

Flashbacks of some of my more difficult clients doing just that raced through my head and I could see this playing out. But, I didn't share what a nightmare that might be. Instead, I said, "Most likely the seller's listing contract included language about the seller being cooperative throughout the sale. That would include providing the right paperwork in a timely manner to make the sale close. The buyer can sue for specific performance if the seller doesn't cooperate." 

"Oh good! I will tell her she can be sued. That'll make her cooperate," he said. 

Phone call 2: The seller (his father-in-law) passed away this morning. His house is currently for sale with another agent in Phoenix and what happens now? 

I started with, "Because the home is listed for sale with another agent, I cannot give you real estate advice." Which is true. It would be a serious ethics breach under the circumstances. But the longer answer is yes, the home is still for sale even if the owner passes away. It is in a trust and my caller's wife is on title of the home, the executor of the will and the sole surviving member of the trust. I did tell him to call the agent and she would (hopefully) know what to do. If not, she should ask her broker who will (hopefully) know what to do. 

Hypothetically, as an agent, I would have gone to my most competent escrow officer, opened escrow* and had my escrow officer immediately ask for all of the current and necessary documentation, such as the death certificate and trust documents to make sure there wasn't any glitches. They can handle that part. 

Sometimes my job includes just knowing who to talk to.

*On a side note, you don't need to have a buyer and seller to open escrow. The seller can open it when they list the house. It can be a messy project, but under the circumstances I'd rather have someone I trust handling this kind of thing than an escrow officer I don't know who's been on the job two weeks. 

Grievance Weirdness

We had our last Grievance Committee meeting of 2020. I don't know if I'm on next year's Grievance Committee. I hope so. But, I do know they rotate out people. And, because I've been pretty silent at the Association, my name may fall through the cracks. I guess I could sent out an e-mail to the Powers That Be, but right now I have enough on my plate. I will be pleasantly surprised if I'm asked to return. Part of me thinks it won't be an issue. After all, who else will read 89 pages of he-said-she-said over some of the strangest things. 

This week's meeting was more or less uneventful. There was the usual, "This agent stole my client," type complaints. We also had a member of the general public we thought was scamming the agent and was trying to publicly shame the dude. There was a lot of fluff and multi-syllable words, but no substance. We didn't think the agent actually did anything wrong. Sometimes the loudest and most obnoxious complaints don't seem as legit as some of the more mundane.  

Then there is this case. I didn't peer review it. But it struck me as strange. So, I'll pass it along to you three readers. Essentially this agent was fired by his client. The agent didn't go away. The agent continually called the lender asking for updates. The agent continually called the mother of the client (in another state) asking for updates. The agent called everyone involved asking for updates--all after he was told he was fired! He just didn't go away. 

Here's where it got interesting. Someone said it isn't an ethical violation to be a pest. I sort of wish it was. We did send him to the High Inquisitor Squad on a lesser charge, but I'm not on that committee and I don't know if it will stick. I think we were all trying to find some sort of violation to help the complainant's case, but jerks and pests often get away with more than they should.

Directionless

Because of the lack of business, I'm a bit flat. There is no money in my account to pay for some of my necessities: my dues (so I can get receive my upcoming commission and use the Multiple Listing Service), the data subscription I use (and helps me in my business) and my errors and omissions (malpractice) insurance. All of these are due in 29 days. Not true, my data subscription has already expired. 

Honestly, I've been struggling with whether or not to keep my doors open. I have made a profit every year I've worked for myself so that isn't the issue. But keeping the doors open isn't necessarily viable if I want to keep doing this in the short-term. Truthfully, I can still maintain my license and go to a different brokerage. That will save me the insurance portion of what I owe. I still have to pay the rest. 

Of course, I have ways to get the money. But I am hesitating. My hesitation has to do with how much longer I plan on being an agent. Right now I'm not doing any advertising or looking for ways to create work. I need to make a commitment if I'm going forward. One way or another. 

I've weighed the pros and cons of closing my doors. Pro: less expensive, less liability, less paperwork. Con: Less freedom, less autonomy, less commission (assuming I have incoming commissions), somebody else's office policies/politics and there are start-up costs of signs, advertising and other broker fees I'm expected to pay. Plus, what broker in their right mind wants to bring in an agent who is not producing? I know there are discount brokerages out there who will charge me a fee (and/or a portion of my commission) and leave me alone. But most won't. Nor do I want to sit through sales meetings and deal with the crazy that comes from being a "team" player. As I write this, I'm having PTSD just thinking about the days I worked for El Jefe and the Insane Woman at 21st Century. 

There are a few life-thingys in the Sunshine household right now that need more attention than me trying to sell and house or two (we are fine). But what to do about my brokerage has been weighing on my mind. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will make a few decisions and commit to a direction.