Sunday, February 11, 2007
Welcome to our house
I wanted to write about a quote I keep thinking of that I believe is attributed to Ghandi, "Be the change you want to see in the world."
I even found some clip-art which in a non-PC way is suggestive of the sage in question. But I couldn't come up with anything that isn't saccharine-sweet or depressing, and I don't need any more of either of those. I don't think you, my one faithful reader, do either.
So I turn to another quote, which isn't as inspiring. I think this one is Mark Twain:
"A fool is somebody who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing."
That's me now. I've spent the last 5 or 6 weeks looking for a place to live, and I can come up with all sorts of metrics to nail down the price of a piece of property to the nth degree. We've haggled with sellers down to the last dollar, and been told by agents that they don't want to deal with us because we're negotiating too much. We worry about buying a certian house because when we go to resell it we may not be able to get all our money back out of it, since everybody else is also a student of the science of real estate. As my wife pointed out, when it comes to real estate, everybody styles hiimself a savante.
The internet adds a neat twist. Now everybody can look on the tax appraisal roll and see exactly how much we paid for our house. People don't seem to have any qualms about asking how much we're offering for a house, and then of course commenting on whether or not that's a good price. Maybe it's the particular breed of jackass I spend most of my waking hours around-- I hope your friends and relatives retain a little more vintage etiquette.
I hereby resolve, with dog as my witness:
1) I will never again ask anybody about the price of a home they are buying or selling, unless I am the buyer or the seller
2) I will never look up the value of somebody else's house to satisfy my curiosity
3) I will to refrain from mentally estimating the value of houses I do not own or hope to own
4) I will never offer unsolicited advice or opinions about the real estate market, despite my unique status as a self-proclaimed expert
5) I will knee people in the crotch when they break any of the previous 4 guidelines with respect houses I own or hope to own
6) Everybody who has ever broken any of the first four tenets, especially myself, is hereby forgiven for the what they have done or what they failed to do in the past
That should do it. Please add more if you can think of some good ones. ¶ 10:21 AM
I wanted to write about a quote I keep thinking of that I believe is attributed to Ghandi, "Be the change you want to see in the world."
I even found some clip-art which in a non-PC way is suggestive of the sage in question. But I couldn't come up with anything that isn't saccharine-sweet or depressing, and I don't need any more of either of those. I don't think you, my one faithful reader, do either.
So I turn to another quote, which isn't as inspiring. I think this one is Mark Twain:
"A fool is somebody who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing."
That's me now. I've spent the last 5 or 6 weeks looking for a place to live, and I can come up with all sorts of metrics to nail down the price of a piece of property to the nth degree. We've haggled with sellers down to the last dollar, and been told by agents that they don't want to deal with us because we're negotiating too much. We worry about buying a certian house because when we go to resell it we may not be able to get all our money back out of it, since everybody else is also a student of the science of real estate. As my wife pointed out, when it comes to real estate, everybody styles hiimself a savante.
The internet adds a neat twist. Now everybody can look on the tax appraisal roll and see exactly how much we paid for our house. People don't seem to have any qualms about asking how much we're offering for a house, and then of course commenting on whether or not that's a good price. Maybe it's the particular breed of jackass I spend most of my waking hours around-- I hope your friends and relatives retain a little more vintage etiquette.
I hereby resolve, with dog as my witness:
1) I will never again ask anybody about the price of a home they are buying or selling, unless I am the buyer or the seller
2) I will never look up the value of somebody else's house to satisfy my curiosity
3) I will to refrain from mentally estimating the value of houses I do not own or hope to own
4) I will never offer unsolicited advice or opinions about the real estate market, despite my unique status as a self-proclaimed expert
5) I will knee people in the crotch when they break any of the previous 4 guidelines with respect houses I own or hope to own
6) Everybody who has ever broken any of the first four tenets, especially myself, is hereby forgiven for the what they have done or what they failed to do in the past
That should do it. Please add more if you can think of some good ones. ¶ 10:21 AM
