It's been on of THOSE weeks, the ones that destroy everything in their path. They come ripping through like a tornado of destruction and leave you standing there in the wake, dishevelled and dirty, holding a broken flip flop to shield your eyes from the sun.
Blah, blah... "you have to experience the downs to appreciate the highs", whatever. I like to share my experiences with the world, whether it's been good or downright terrible, so here goes... for your comedic enjoyment... Megans Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Week.
Let's start with closings, they are usually fun and exciting, finally your buyers get to celebrate their long awaited purchase! But other times, they do not quite go so well. How about when the property is not clean? And I mean FILTHY DIRTY! The water was turned off and the place looks and smells like Mr Clean himself would head for the hills, not pretty. And it's always a bit awkward when the seller leaves too many personal belongings and items behind.
Last minute surprises are never good for anyone involved and I have had more than my share of them this week. Everything from last minute chimney extensions, to issues with property migration on vacant land taking WEEKS to complete, even losing my voice so that even a simple phone call was a disaster! About that... I lost my voice over the weekend, making me sound a bit hysterical at best. I was over 2 hours away from the main office and had to call in a favour to get some paperwork pushed through right away. I want to be fair here and say that the situation was a bit sketchy and I was feeling mildly uncomfortable, that combined with my unintentional voice-over for some rural low budget horror film, made my most excellent administrator feel as though I was in real danger. After I hung up, I proceeded back into the fully insulated steel building where my phone wasn't picking up any of the frantic calls from my husband, Broker, Sister-In-Law and various other genuinely concerned parties who were wondering if the local authorities should be dispatched in Colchester County. My sincere apologies to the people back in the Valley that I left in the lurch, it was never my intention to spread the panic as I did!
Let's touch briefly on taxes! Don't we all lament the HST that is added to most of our purchases?! We all complain, but it is a fact of life here for a great deal of items we purchase. But there are some purchases where HST is a grey area. There are some 'easy' rules on when and why HST applies to when dealing in Real Estate, but there are some surprises too. Surprises that nobody wants to hear about on the morning of closing. Through no fault of ours, the closing had to be extended and that's never a welcome last minute change.
The Real Estate Market tends to follow a pretty regular pattern of feast and famine, with swells and troughs a common occurrence. The key is to regulate these ups & downs so that you are not swept away in the currents. This can be difficult at times, especially when you are caught up in the manic part of the cycle. A few weeks later you can find yourself without much to do but listen to the crickets chirp. In a way, the constant change is exciting and if this is a career you choose to stick with, it becomes somewhat of a lifestyle. If nothing else, it makes for excellent blog inspiration and entertainment.
