Susan Walters

In a massive procrastination move the other day, I decided to rearrange my home office furniture and all the electronic equipment. It was a very big job and only required the occasional request for help to reposition heavy furniture, so it was fairly successful. I threw a lot of useless stuff away.

My son, perhaps the strongest and most fit person in the family, was AWOL during the entire process and arrived late at night to express his opinion. After noting the improved flow, in which I had eliminated a 12 drawer dresser and downsized to a 4 drawer dresser to hold office supplies, he commented on the desk.

"That is one power desk!" he said. First, yes it is. It is massive and if I were a person comfortable working at a desk, I am sure it would be very useful. I prefer to work in the recliner in the room, with seating space available for one cat in the seat area with me, though there have been times when a spare cat has adorned the top of the chair behind my head as well. I have always carefullly positioned the printer/scanner/fax within reach of the recliner, plus all phones can be accessed as well. How thoughtful! My biggest problem is power cords. I appear to be on life support in the recliiner, and whatever cat (of 4) is visiting needs to tuck in under wires and cables and planners at times. They seem to understand; they keep coming back, over and over again, despite the aggravation. Cats love electronics, and me.

After my son's comment, I went on to explain the concept of desk placement in an office. The occupant must always be able to see the door. I believe this goes all the way back to Darwinism and survival of the fittest. If you can't see the opponent as they approach, how will you prepare your defense? Beyond that, the size and color of the desk is paramount. Mine was a massive scuffed-up mahogany desk from the 1800's, I was told when I bought it at a yard sale for $25.00. I swore I would have it refinished but never did. One day I painted it flat black and what a difference that made! Power indeed!

Here's the problem though. Apparently back in the 1800's they did not use modern office chairs. The chair opening for the desk is no more than 24" and I swear it is not more than 18". I have an old bentwood oak chair as the desk chair there. Do I need to further justify the recliner decision?

So my home office is now more functional, though still doorless. It used to be the dining room - I swear I will get those doors, ignore the view, and be extraordinarily productive. If now, if now, I could complete the taxes that prompted this office transformation, then that would be a coup indeed. Look out IRS, my return will be coming to you soon, right after.....oh, nevermind..... Where the heck is that stimulus payment? Wait, I need to file the tax return, don't I? I believe I have come full circle. Circles are good. As are multiples of three and not placing your bed opposite a mirror or under a beam. Avoid northern light. I'll get this all right one day and the living will be easy....even in real estate.

Peeved is a great word when trying to avoid cursing, isn't it?

I recently commented on a couple of blogs and returned to see what others had to say. One blogger had a lengthy negative response to my comment, but fortunately there was another commenter coming to my defense, sort of. I am also curious as to why a Florida realtor cares about a politician in Minneapolis - points? The rest of the comments struck me as ambiguous so I didn't really know what they were saying. Poop or get off the pot! (Another curse avoidance, I am afraid.) So it was bad, then good. I commented again so it is probably really bad now. It was a political blog and at this point in election time things are really critical, lines being drawn in the sand.

That old axiom about never talking about religion, sex, or politics - it is all over now. Religion is a no-go issue since tolerance is in. Sex is a non-issue since it is everywhere. Politics? Now that is where the mud-slinging is still perfectly appropriate. Apparently money earned is now also a talking point. Are we allowed no privacy at all?

The second blog I revisited was about investors and the timelines for re-selling a property. I have a lot of investors. Yes they make money when "flipping", but this is Ann Arbor, Michigan not California. What they are doing is almost community service. They are taking blighted properties, sometimes the only blighted property in a neighborhood and sometimes a bunch of properties in a neighborhood, and making ALL of the properties there more saleable by their efforts. Ask the neighbors what they think. Michigan has over 7000 HUD foreclosure homes alone, in a declared declining market and an exodus state . Someone has to do something. Three cheers for intrepid investors!

Investors are buying properties so bad that when I show them I need to cover my nose from the stench and wipe my shoes on the hopefully damp grass, if there is grass, when we leave. They are buying properties far past what the generic buyer looks at. Needs a roof, new mechanicals, new kitchen and bath, new floors, walls, landscaping - no problem. Of course, they are getting it "for a song." Most buyers cannot get past the fact that the third bedroom is painted blue, and they do not like blue. Good for investors! Why should they be limited? One of my investors is a mostly retired contractor with connections and can turn around the worst property in about a month. He freely admits he has lost lots of money on some deals. Is he in the black? Yes, but not on every deal. Risk needs reward.

Yes, I make commission on selling these properties if I list them when they have been renovated. But greed is not a part of the picture. A recent sale of mine was for $20,000. I paid my office bill for the month with that commission, nothing more. When it relists as a renovated property at $130,000 or so, I will not be cruising in the Caribbean; I will be paying orthodontia, utilities, GASOLINE, etc. I DO NOT MAKE AS MUCH AS YOU THINK I MAKE. I'll detail it all for you, compensation, less company dollar, less expenses, then net, if YOU will do the same with YOUR salary. I thought not....

Now that I have talked about politics, religion, and money, I think I will cruise my TV channels and find a movie with sex. It is the only subject that is innocuous it seems. Maybe I will get lucky. :)

Today I had some really disturbing news from one of my buyers. He had been in the neighborhood where we are scheduled to close on a property next Friday. The deal has been up and down, extended this long since an early March contract date for very legitimate reasons beyond the buyers' control. Today however, in talking to some neighbors, he learned that the previous owner had committed suicide in the garage.

When I heard this in a phone call from the buyer this afternoon, he asked if the bank was required to disclose this. It is a bank-owned property, surprise! No, the bank is not required to disclose this, and in Michigan, nor are realtors since it is a non-material fact of the real estate. Of course, had I known it, I would have disclosed it, and in talking to the listing agent, he did not know it either.

My team leader came by right after I learned this and I mentioned it to him. He asked the address and commented that it was not the same place he was thinking of. Apparently someone in our office has a listing where another homeowner committed suicide in their pole barn.

Things have been not good in Michigan for some time but there is light at the end of the tunnel. A recent Today show segment featured Barbara Corcoran and while she admitted that the Detroit metro area is one of the six most depressed markets in the nation, she also said that this area is on the way back up. It is official. We have hit bottom. Sadly, some homeowners hit bottom before the news got out.

I took this news in stride in the office but came home for a long power nap, awaking very subdued. I was physically refreshed but could not help but dwell on the news I heard today. We may talk in generalities about the number of foreclosures, the difficulties of short sales, the drastically reduced assessments. The human toll is rarely mentioned. Today I looked it in the eye and it hurt, literally.

As I drove to the supermarket for the requisite milk and bread, I had a song stuck in my head. "Be Not Afraid." It is a beautiful and sad song we sing in church, lax as I have been in attending of late, but the roots are deep. I remember being unable to sing this song the Sunday after our country invaded Iraq; the words were too difficult. I also could not sing it when we buried my little nephew recently. I'm sure the author of the song meant it to be uplifting, an affirmation that even in death there is hope. It just makes me cry. So crying is what I did, driving back from the supermarket.

You know what? I felt better. There is the release of tension that tears bring, but I think in this case it was more about faith, deep within me and sidelined far too easily. I don't know what end of life brings. I don't know where the 40-something man who ended his life is now; none of us really does. I have faith though that there is peace in the end, whatever a person's belief system is, even if it is just that the pain of living is done. That light at the end of the tunnel I mentioned earlier? I have faith it is not related only to real estate. In the end, if I have the means, I'll blog about that too. I'll try my best to get back to you on that....

Tonight I actually stopped at our rural mailbox and took the mail out.

I remember 32 years ago when getting the mail was such a big treat. My husband and I had no credit history, no accounts, didn't live anywhere long enough to have associations - we were blissfully free of the mail assault. The only mail we got was mail we wanted.

Now, 99% of the mail we get is nearly or completely unnecessary. We pay and monitor accounts online but keep getting paper statements since most online statements make NO sense; we need the paper for clarification but don't open them unless there is an issue. As for advertisements for goods and services, we shop when we want, where we want, by word-of-mouth, and buy only what we need. Little by little, we began to disregard the mail completely. (Anyone out there listening? - we are baby boomers and WE PAY NO ATTENTION TO OUR MAIL!!!) People call to see if we have received this or that. "Let me check; I don't bring in the mail." Hah! No one brings in the mail!! The other day our oversize rural mailbox was so full that one piece was in the weeds; I think I heard crickets too, it is so peaceful and natural around our mailbox. It was a rejection for a job at Lowe's for our son - no position available. How appropriate....

My son is the prompt for this post. Today he gleefully announced that he has ridden the school bus for the very last time. He's right. He has an extended fun day tomorrow and will drive to school, with exams on Thursday and Friday - his last day - so limited and busless days there too. And that is all there is to his high school years, except parties, the graduation ceremony, diploma, parties, and the long goodbye of the summer, punctuated by parties. We are hoping there will be paid employment too; time will tell. (He is going to Michigan Tech in August, Computer Science/English Literature, dabbling in music for fun - accepted? last September, his first choice of schools.)

So today's impetuous stop at the mailbox presented a letter addressed, "TO THE PARENTS OF..." and that was interesting. I opened it fully expecting to find that our son would not be graduating because of a four year library fine in the gazillions. We know his cap and gown is being expedited to our residence since he did not bother to order it IN NOVEMBER. We suspect there is no yearbook on order either, oh dear. We know his photo will be in the yearbook though - that was on us to arrange. But no, the letter read:

Kevin will be receiving recognition at the Saline High School Senior Awards Program. While many students are aware of the awards they will receive, some awards and scholarships may not be announced until the evening of the program. We strongly encourage attendance for this awards program.

WHAT? There might be some award for our son who almost certainly did not GPA for even the second or B honor roll? Is this some sort of joke? Yes, we know you all love him - you said so at conferences in the fall, and essentially in every year he has been in the district since grade three. You have said almost the same thing, all of you. "Intrinsically motivated to learn, not motivated by grades." Some of you have gone so far as to say he is brilliant, bored to tears, and needs to just be done with high school so he can experience the challenges that might motivate him. Wouldn't those be YOUR failures, not his? Just a thought. None of you have denied that he has learned, perhaps more than any other of your students, and has been a delightful and insightful contributor in the classroom. Some of you have admitted he is among the most completely intellectual AND well-balanced students you have ever taught. It has been a pleasure hearing those things. It has been less of a pleasure seeing the grades his non-compliance has wrought. Particularly the failing grade this past quarter from you, his psychology teacher! You said he was likely to get a 5 on the AP test - are there no allowances in high school for superior learning WITH non-conformance? Sometimes life just sucks!

Unless you are Kevin.... In his blissfully happy world, from the day he was born to present, life has been an adventure without worries. He is the most self-actualized individual I have ever personally known. As a parent, it has been an exercise in futility to get him to care about anything he does not care about. Did Einstein fail math? - so the rumor goes. Did Bill Gates drop out of Harvard? - I think so. Will Kevin live in a cardboard box under a bridge? - I hope not...

Is this letter a tease? Is this some sort of form letter sent out to the entire student body so there is a good audience to applaud the chosen few? Or does our son stand a chance at getting some sort of award or scholarship? Of course we will attend. I said he should shave and try to look nice. He said he would wear a suit. The way he thinks, his suit will be in his honor or for his friends who will certainly be winning awards. He has always hung out with the "right" (nerd) crowd. You can be proud for yourself and/or proud of your friends. As parents, we are proud of all of the kids graduating this year. It will be a great night with lots of applause, no matter who is on stage.

My brother bought a fixer-upper late last year and is now in the process of doing the exterior of the house. Among the biggest decisions to be made is what color to paint the exterior. It is currently pale pink. I know, I know. But why do you think he got it for $150,000 or so and it immediately appraised at $216,000? People! Exterior paint does not cost $66,000!!!

Well, after at few attempts at slapping a quart on here and a quart or there, he was directed to a website that does the work for you. You can figuratively paint a house that may or may not be like yours and see the hopefully harmonious and favorable results without so much as lifting a quart OR a paintbrush.

I loved this site, mostly because it showed the errors of so many homeowner's color choices. Fortunately for me, I never strayed beyond the brown/green choices or I would be there still. I will not consider painting an exterior of a property, great or small, without first consulting a site like this:

www.thisoldhousepaints.com/visualizer/index.html

Enjoy!