Random Acts of Stupidity

Why is it that buyers insist upon calling several Listing Agents when searching for a home, rather than working with one Buyer's Agent? It doesn't cost the buyer anything to have someone represent him/her, someone that he/she feels comfortable with and trusts. I realize that not everyone is aware of buyer representation, but most people are aware that it exists. I have worked with buyers who had no problem picking up the phone and calling a Listing Agent in order to see a home or ask questions, even though they know we have an exclusive agreement to work with one another. I have even had buyers call me and ask for information about a particular property, then two sentences later, they tell me that they are currently working with an agent, under a signed agreement for representation. After confirming what I thought I had heard, they go a step further and tell me that they "didn't want to bother their agent, as he/she is very busy". Excuse me?? Did I just hear what I thought I heard? Correct me if I'm wrong, but when that buyer closes on a house, isn't their agent getting paid a commission for providing a service to them? And they don't want to bother their agent, as their agent is busy? And what exactly does that imply, that I'm not very busy? I just sit around and wait for buyers to call with questions that they really should be directing to their agent, right? Not even! So, can someone clarify this for me, please . . . so, it's not okay to call your agent to ask some questions about a particular property because he/she is very busy, in spite of the fact that he/she will get paid at some point in the near future, right? BUT it is okay to randomly call some other agent, who is also very busy and ask questions about a property, knowing that this other agent will not be getting paid because you made it to the closing table, correct?

Can someone shed some light on this for me, please??

Boy, Have I Been Busy!

You know that saying "Time flies when you're having fun"? Well, that also applies to when you're working like a madman. So, it's March now. And I am posting for the first time in about 2 months. So, sorry that I have been busy. I've been working my butt off. Anyway, enough of that already!

Real Estate Increases Risk of Infection

I am a workaholic. I get up at 7 a.m. and there I go . . . work, work, working away. This behavior continues on until as late as 2 or 3 a.m . . . EVERY DAY!! Needless to say, I work so much that only a couple of hours are set aside for me, myself, and I. This can be exhausting and wear on a person's health.

Back in June or July 2006, I was eating at the best pizza place in Dallas, Angelo & Vito's located on Frankford Road, just west of the Dallas North Tollway. My husband and I are sharing a Greek Salad, but he doesn't like olives, so he pushes them aside and I eat them. I bite into one of the salty calamatto olives and instantly, I felt one of the molars on the left side of my mouth crumble. It didn't hurt at all, which was a surprise to me. Now, anyone who really knows me knows that I have very white teeth and I do not bleach them, use any whiteners, or get any cosmetic dentistry done . . . I just take care of my teeth . . . or so I thought. So 2 or 3 months pass and all is fine with my cracked tooth. But then I got this brilliant idea to chew my gum on that side of my mouth, which caused my somewhat okay tooth to break up even more! Within a week, I had a slight infection in my gum, and I absolutely could not use that tooth for anything, not even to bite into ice cream.

At the time the tooth broke, I had no insurance (I was a single Realtor, so no spousal insurance and no health benefits from my job). So in September 2006, I got married and acquired some insurance. I went to the dentist and was asked if I had time for a nice little root canal. That would be the first of three trips to the dentist to have the root canal completed. I told myself that I had to take better care of my teeth, as it occurred to me that I had not been to the dentist in 4 years, prior to getting my license and while I still had a 7-4 job and health insurance. I had forgotten that the dentist had found a little cavity, and that I would need to take care of it sometime in the near future . . . 4 years later! My dentist found another cavity on my last root canal visit, which I had filled about 3 weeks later, while there for a cleaning. And guess what? He found another cavity!! He told me that this one was on the tooth in front of my wisdom tooth and was the result of my impacted wisdom tooth pushing against the other tooth, and that my wisdom tooth would need to be extracted so that he could fill the cavity in the other tooth. So, needless to say, I have been delaying getting that wisdom tooth removed. Some fools never learn . . .

So I woke up Sunday morning (11/26/06), after having slept with the windows open all night, and had a slight earache. I assumed it was due to the cool night air. As the day progressed, the pain from my earache increased and I began having a toothache. I looked in the mirror to see why my tooth was hurting and got a surprise! On my wisdom tooth I could see a HUGE cavity! Was my dentist mistaken in thinking the cavity was on the tooth next to the wisdom tooth? To make matters worse, my wisdom tooth appears to have chipped or cracked. Great! By the time Sunday night rolled around, I was in excruciating pain from the earache and toothache. I found some broad spectrum antibiotics I had left from when I was sick last winter and I took them. Approximately 12 hours later and after having only 2 hours of sleep that night, I felt much better. But now I have to take care of this tooth, as I am certain that the infection in my mouth was the cause of my sudden ear infection.

So what does this have to do with real estate? Because I work so much, I have, at times, neglected my health. There never was enough time for me to go to the dentist (and the lack of insurance didn't help either). So now, I have no choice but to make time to go and get my wisdom tooth removed. This is not going to be the highlight of December, I know that much!

Take care of yourself or spend lots of money at the dentist's office!!