August in Texas

Hi Everyone. Let me start by saying that it's hot as hell and I hate it. I was showing property to a client yesterday and it was freakin' hot. I had 5 houses on the agenda which was pretty manageable, until she showed up and had a whole list of houses she wanted to add. We wound up looking at 13 houses, some of which were still under construction which means NO AIR CONDITIONING! ARG! It was a fruitful day though. I think we found a couple she likes.

I almost got my first listing last week. Before you say to yourself, "almost??" , let me tell the story.

I got a call from a guy who had been referred by a friend. He inherited this house from his mom about 15 yrs ago and it's been sitting for all this time. Let me briefly try to explain what part of town this house is in. On the news every night, there are stories about shootings and stabbings and they are usually on or near South Hackberry. The house in question is 2 blocks off Hackberry. Strike One.

Ok, so I show up to talk to the guy and I get my first look at the house. It's clear from the very start that it's been lived in by transients or druggies for quite a while. It's in really bad shape and he's trying to "fix it up" by slapping on a new coat of paint. yeah right. The ceiling in the back hallway had fallen in due to water damage in the past and his idea of fixing it was to put some sort of new ceiling. STRIKE TWO.

At this point I'm saying to myself, "Trent, this is a really bad idea. Do you really want to get mixed up in a house like this?" So I called a friend at a title company to do a search of the property just to make sure all the legal stuff is in order. WELL, she calls me back saying that the city has been sent out to this property over and over and over again to clean up the yard because nobody can find the owners and there are about $5000 worth of lien's on the property, which have to be paid before the title can be transfered. STRIKE THREE.

Needless to say, I didn't take the listing. I doubt anybody will.

Other than that, everything is going well. Mark was accepted to graduate school and is starting his first classes in just a few weeks, so we'll both be extremely busy and broke, so don't ask us to do anything expensive. No, seriously, dont ask. haha.

That's it for today.