One year ago today: March 11, 2015, BB + TI – TO = EB.
Five years ago today: March 11, 2011, my fan club.
Nine years ago today: March 11, 2007, French gals, mamzelles.
Random years ago today: March 11, 2010, MLM RIP.
Let me just say, the rules for being a real estate agent are obviously a lot laxer in Florida that most places would allow. We, or I should say I, found a property this morning that is another stalled fixer-upper. That means somebody was doing the renovations and suddenly quit, and offered it for sale. That normally means they found something that is too expensive for them to deal with. The place sold for $100,000 in 2005. Now it is listed for $15,000.
It’s a nice big house. Two stories. And somebody has put in new windows. There are already ten offers on the place, the seller will take the best price by Sunday. The fact that he has not done so already is an indication ten people are trying to jew the guy down. I wonder what could be wrong with the place? Any guesses?
It certainly has big rooms. I put in an offer for the full asking price, pending inspection and title, which is normal. That means if they say okay, we have to inspect it within the next 24 hours. You see, the seller has announced he’ll take the best offer by Sunday midnight. That means we have no time for formalities. Yeah, you got it figured, if anybody else had a full price offer, he would have taken it by now. Can’t you just see ten yokels up there chasing around to find $15,000 by Sunday? That would be fun to watch.
Wiki picture of the day.
USS American Star, 2004
NOON
Later, the house above is probably gone. The agent got so many offers that she is disinclined to help out with any information or any real effort. Unless we take a chance on travel out there tomorrow to inspect, there is no practical way to get a written offer in by the Sunday deadline. Especially since the agent is “not available” on Saturday. Once again, we miss a deal because we are too far away to swoop in. If you see a picture of the house, then we did not get it. However, here is proof I am more than experienced at uncovering the best buys in the state. We just have no way of reacting quickly enough.
But I know that showing up in a small town, renting a room, and asking around for houses on sale is not the best way to get yourself a bargain. This place was missed because it is a five-hour drive and the real estate agent was not helpful at all. She had never even seen the place. My opinion of real estate agents has changed since I moved to Florida. But not much.
Question, why has this blog not been following the Apple conflict with the FBI and DoJ? Simple, all of that ground has been covered here in this blog and in my other writings dating back forty years. You were told it would happen if you didn’t begin to speak out long ago. Now, as far as practical results go, it is too late. The FBI will, in the end, dictate to Apple what it can or cannot put on its phones, and the NSA will use your phone data for “domestic policing”. Exactly the opposite of what you were promised.
Anyone who is surprised by all this is either living under a rock or one of the complacent masses who have marched to the will of every tyrant in history. Nothing gets through to the peasants except death by the millions, until the few smart ones left over form a local majority and become the next tyrants.
As for Windows 10, it is nothing more than the next step to take centralized control of your computer without warning. It contains thousands of lines of binary code that have no apparent function on your system except to track your usage. And there are rumors (but only rumors) that Windows 7 computers have begun automatically installing these segments of Windows 10 code without asking permission. Windows is sooner or later going to want a return on their investment in all this code.
In about a month, there will be a new law passed that gives “law enforcement” without any warrant to demand your password on any encrypted data. So much for the Constitution protecting your private papers. Again, it will be a Canada-style law, that is, it won’t say you have to give the password, but it will impose severe penalties if you do not. You were warned 40 years ago, but of course, you had more important things on your mind. The entire time.
If you want to disable Win 10 tracking, here is a link. If you choose the option to uninstall all tracking apps, it can take overnight. It doesn’t really delete anything, it puts bogus information into the tracking fields. And it is time to repeat that this blog does not accept advertising, at least not the in-your-face brand. As Trump might say, this blog is self-funding, so nobody tells me what to write.
AFTERNOON
Welcome to the two-hour afternoon telephone argument. Why are we missing these deals? Because my system is designed to find the bargains, not to chase around Polk County, 200 miles from here. There is only so much I can do myself and I’m going the best I can, but I’m not getting a lot of help. Why not? Ask yourself that question, I’ve been offering to show others how to work computers for years. No luck? Well, whose fault is that? Like I said, circular.
One thing I’ve concluded is we have to revamp the way we are approaching this situation. Time after time, we are running into impossible deadlines, crooked real estate people, and properties that do not meet our criteria. Yet, we have a down payment that rivals or regularly exceeds asking prices.
JZ’s solution is to throw more money at the problem and, gee, doesn’t that sound like RofR so very long ago? Long enough that one day you will read about it in this journal, anyway. I don’t want to finance another expedition until this quarrelsome situation is properly looked into. Face it, real estate is just not geared to buyers living several hundred miles away.
Hence, I believe the next step is, as I’ve already understood, to go up there on my own for a few days and maybe (I said maybe) drop in an offer at a few local real estate agents who may need hard cash fast enough to direct a buyer my direction. Unless you have a better idea. And the idea has to fit my pocketbook. Like I said, it is not like I’m getting any help. Here, or ever, really.
NIGHT
This is one of those “skin-feel” diving masks. I looked it over closely, but don’t think it is worth the $80 price tag. It does not even have a purge valve. Hence, it is an expensive novelty item until further notice. Not that I’ve done that much diving or swimming since I got to Florida. Since the house (see above) I had my eye on is gone, I’ve decided to delay leaving until another day, but hopefully it will be soon. JZ wants to tag along, but unless we have specific destinations, he can get impatient with just scouting.
Also, these companies like Ford and Carrier are leaving America because they cannot compete and still pay American wages. Trump says this would be made up for with a 35% tax on imports, but that normally results in the cost just being passed on to the consumer. It will take a generation for the economy to switch back, even if the skilled labor could still be found after all this time. Does America really still have a competitive workforce, or can all they do is telemarket and flog cell phone plans? You cannot base an economy on jobs that require only a headset and some pre-written scripts.
ADDENDUM
You know how it is, no matter how educated or knowledgeable you become, you sometimes still have to deal with some of the most stupid slug-brains that God ever created. Take your average library staff, good example. The Hollywood library system only hires hair-lip queers and banally stupid old ladies. And of course, today I have an example. Okay, I told you how I went to the library because the thoughtless Frenchies knocked down the shared router with Skype again.
I managed to forget my pen drive in the library computer. An hour later, I noticed it missing and went back there and it was missing. Now, you get one hour per user, so the person after me either saw that drive or is lying. It was not in the lost and found, so it would be a simple matter to look up their ID number and give them a quick call. Well, you think it simple, until you talk to the library staff. Incredibly thick-headed stupid old women. And ugly.
The fat old-lady “supervisor” waddles out of the back like a fat old-lady supervisor and she’s one of those losers who you just know when you lay eyes on them is going to waste your time. She starts telling me she can’t do this and can’t do that, I stopped her several times and told her to please go get somebody who could do something. Time was wasting. The point is, she was not even trying to help. I never asked her for the person’s name or phone. I asked her to give them a call from the back office.
And explain to them if they have the drive, return it no questions asked. If they don’t have it, the police may be involved and they are top of the suspect list. Then ask them what they would like to do? Nope, that stupid, stupid old broad would not budge. She even went so far as to say I would have to charge this unknown person with theft and even then, she “would not honor” a warrant if the police had one. That kind of stupid does not happen. You have to dedicate a lifetime to be that stupid.
I had to go through two equally stupid and ugly old broads to get even that far. The Hollywood Circle library is a shit-faced old broad obstacle course. But that supervisor, that is one piece of work. How dare you call yourself a supervisor when you can’t help anybody, just stand there and make excuses for what you can’t do. Oh, she says, the library card numbers are "so securely stored" even she can’t get them. (If they are, that's most interesting.) There’s only one thing worse than stupid and that’s a stupid liar.
I’ve replaced the flash drives and moved on, but I will remember them old ladies next time I get the voting form for library funds. The whole bunch of them are barely capable of grasping the concept of library card, but even that is pushing their pea-brains to the limit. And you just know they got that way from being so hag-face ugly for so long.
You know, I even told the supervisor if she was not going to help me, to get someone who would, upon which she starts giving me advice, upon which I had to tell her she was so stupid compared to me that she had best shut her face because she had no business dispensing advice when she is that ignorant to begin with. (Don’t worry, by then I knew she was just a loopy old bitch who wasn’t going to help a bit.) Yep, I had to say that before she’d STFU about why I should not have lost my flash drive in the first place, blah-blah-blah.
But instead, I think I’ll make one phone call that will teach them old broads a lesson they are never going to forget. But I’ll wait a week or two so they’ll think they got away with being so stupid again. Ha, ha, they’ll say, did you see that guy get all flustered when we wasted his time. That’s the same library, incidentally, where they refused to stay a few minutes over for the police to catch the bastard who stole my cell phone a few years ago.
Do you know what they call a failed librarian in Florida? A Remax real estate agent.
Last Laugh
Old man vs. speed bump.
Return Home
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