Mike Norvell Sr / Norvell Consulting Group

Its cold outside and I have decided to wait a few hours before venturing out. My bird bath is frozen solid, I think of Snoopy and that little bird ice skating on the Peanuts cartoon. I have looked out several times, for all my imagining, there is still no one skating on the frozen bird bath yet. Uh OH,, wait a minute... A young squirrel has jumped off the trellis onto the bird bath..Its really funny. We see as many squirrels in the bird bath as we do birds. He doesn't seem to understand the water is now ice. He keeps trying to touch the ice, to move it.

Yes we have Ice a few times a year even in Fl, this was one of the coldest nights in years. I wonder where did the squirrel spend the night, I pulled out our electric blanket for my wife and I.

My phone has rang several times this morning. We have just put out 30 some lease option signs, we have decided to go this route on most of our recent acquisitions to ride out the current market. Its nearly impossible to get financing for a house now, we have decided to keep it in house for a few years and make the interest for us, instead of the banks getting all the money.

I am taking the time to review my upcoming auction lists and find a name that makes me just sit back and sigh. I know this family. Its not just a name. Its a father, wife, 2 daughters, and an adopted son. I know their grandpa, we go fishing sometimes.

This is not just a name on a list, its a name that represents so much more than that. This family was brought to me by a good friend and I did my best to help them. I did the counseling, I did the math, I referred them to a trusted mortgage guy with a heart, and a lot of years in the business.

Somewhere in the process, they decided to get a second opinion. Lo and Behold, they were suddenly qualified for much more than I had suggested, much more than the trusted mortgage guy had showed them they could afford. They did go on their own and find other houses that were available, and found one with my sign on it.

They were actually angry with me for not showing them this home!!

I explained again that this home would not allow for anything to go wrong in their life. It would stretch them to the limit. Their new Friend, the EXPERT mortgage guy, was a co-worker that did mortgages on the side, had had a license for about 6 months, and he was better at misrepresenting the facts than I was at telling the truth.

My sellers were desperate, and I did my best to make a deal that all could live with. I kicked in nearly half the commission to get the deal done. The sellers needed a sale badly and contributed the max, I gave my reduced commission back to them to help out. I had a commitment to the seller as well, and the buyers were hell bent to GET THIS HOUSE.

Its only 9 months later, and I am not surprised to see the name. I make a call to the grandpa, and he says they could not stop their spending on all the little things, pizza, movies, video games. The mortgage gave them about 62.00 dollars a month extra, they were used to spending over a hundred a week in just little fun stuff. He had helped them with the first payment, and refused to pay the bills since. He apologised to me for not pushing them harder to listen when I was trying so hard to make them play smarter.

We talked about going grouper fishing in a week or two, we could talk more then...........He didn't blame me, he and his wife were going let them move into their rental house to help them get on their feet again.

The squirrel is on the bird bath again now. He is jumping on the ice and then back to the edge, as a Florida squirrel, I would venture to say he has never seen ice before. I consider going out to explain to him that he should stay in the tree and that the ice will melt, he can get a drink later. I could give some good advice here, I have seen this situation before.

I wonder if even a squirrel would listen to me. With over 30 years of business experience, I have a lot to offer in the world. I have seen a lot of ice, even though I have lived in Fl over 50 years. I think I should figure out a way to make my experience a bit more sellable to the general public, even to squirrels that have never seen ice.

I take a deep breath, shake my head, get a nother cup of coffee.....Its going to be OK. This is just one of about thirty files I have to review. The heck with all this moping. I will just go bid on the freaking house and sell it again.