Open House

In your own home, certain words apply. Relaxation, pride, creativity, control, respect, and recreation come to mind, but when you hold an open house to try to sell your home, you can throw all of those descriptions out the window. It's really an unearthly feeling.

I made plans with Linda to be sure to be out of the house before this event took place, however Linda called at 11:30 to say she still had to do her hair and drive over. She guesstimated her arrival time at about 12:30 to 12:40. Promptly at 12 noon my realtor rang the bell. I had taken the provision of putting on my shirt ahead of time, as the last time I opened the door to my Realtor, I was shirtless, prompting her to look at my 9" surgical scar down the middle of my chest. Her reaction was rather disconcerting, so out of thoughtfulness, I saved her that indiscretion. (go figure). While she set up, I busied myself with doing a little last minute housekeeping, putting away the vacuum and sweeping the desert off of my front entrance way and landing. After returning the broom to where I keep it in the backyard, I entered the house to see a strange duet, 2 women that were obviously a couple, browsing through my house, doing the "white glove" test wherever they chose. I nodded to them and smiled as I passed them in the kitchen, but they broke eye contact and looked away, making me realize this is the first time people have ever been in my home and totally ignoring me, treating me like the stranger I was. Not letting them get away with ignoring me, I casually offered that I were the family butler and if they had any questions, just to fire away. They left and I realized I were better off leaving too, but NOT with them. Linda arrived and we headed out for Chinese food and none too soon!

After dining at my favorite Chinese restaurant, I felt like enjoying a little festivity and headed over to the grand opening of Costco in my neighborhood. They had everything but clowns at this circus atmosphere. The place was literally mobbed and we had to park about a city block away. A wink at the card checker got us in, as I knew him from his job at my "old" Costco. I'm a known Costco customer. I think Linda was impressed! One thing that really surprised me was a table full of jeans that were promotionally priced at $109.95 a pair. Were we at Costco, really? Women's hand bags for $185.00, yikes! We browsed around and consumed our share of free samples and left, heading to Desert Ridge's Kohls to return the wedding earrings we fought for 3 weeks ago. I'm learning a lot about how to shop.

Was it Norm Crosby that made a career from using the wrong word when describing a situation? Well, I got a call today from Ron Peters. He is the Norm Crosby in my life. You may remember him from his world famous comment to me a few years ago, that I'm sure I quoted, "If you don't keep an eye on your kids when they're growing up, it's "ineditable" they'll get into trouble"... He's such a good hearted guy, that I never have the heart to correct him. Today he told me his Realtor found him and his girlfriend their new house from the LSM (MLS) book.

I've known Ron for over 30 years, we were in the same business.......... automobiles. He was always talking about buying the property his used car lot was on, I was always talking about buying more cars. Eventually Ron paid off his lot and bought the adjacent property next door. Two years ago he sold the full parcel for 2.3 million dollars and disclosed to me that he also has over 20 other properties that are free and clear, one of which he's in the process of selling to Pulte Homes for 3 million. Who knew??? I let him say "Ineditable" over "Inevitable" any time he wants now. You won't catch me correcting him one bit!