I think there were some legitimate concerns about the potential nuclear threat as well as uncertainty regarding Russia’s actual capabilities.

Now we’ve seen that Russia’s claims don’t hold any more water than a strainer, the west should be more aggressive with its assistance. The Ukrainians have already demonstrated that they are not just going to take it laying down and they’re the only reason Russia hasn’t moved on to invading other former Soviet states. I think we owe them all assistance we can give.

Now bury a whole sit of wrenches standing straight up in a row, out in the middle of a random field and call it “art”.

You’re absolutely right. You, the client, don’t get to see what goes on the backend so it’s often impossible to know up front who is going to represent your interests and who is going to be more interested in padding their own commission. Zillow reviews are basically useless because all it means is that the reviewer liked their realtor. That’s great and all but “likeability” and quality of work are not the same thing.

There was a lot of media speculation that the recent court case and settlement with the National Association of Realtors would bring commissions down and make terms more favorable, especially for sellers.

I don’t believe that has happened at all. In fact, it’s just helped make an industry known for its opaqueness and underhanded tactics even more opaque and underhanded. As usual, it’s the client who gets the shaft.

If you want to find a good realtor, or avoid a bad one, there are a few things you can do.

• Beware of realtors that aggressively push you toward certain vendors (banks, title companies, etc). If you’re looking at your third house and they’re now asking you for the fifth time if you’ve applied for a mortgage at a specific bank, that’s a red flag. Kickbacks are illegal in both banking and real estate. But some people like to treat those pesky laws like suggestions.

• Beware of dual agency in general, but especially Realtors that are very persistent about it. With dual agency, the same realtor represents the buyer and the seller. It’s not a guarantee that your realtor is going to do something unethical, but let’s be real. Collecting commission from both sides in a real estate transaction is a very clear conflict of interest. But it’s a conflict of interest that is considered acceptable as long as The buyer and seller both approve. You do not have to approve. But you may have to find another realtor depending on who your initial realtor was representing first.

• If a realtor has been in the business for a long time AND is willing to show you rentals, that’s actually a positive sign. Rentals pay shit. Around here if you get $300 - $400, that’s a good rental commission. As the agent you get to keep maybe half of that. Depends on what the split is with your broker. Agents who sell more can negotiate a better commission split. So the rental commission is dog shit and on top of that, landlords and property Management companies are notorious for trying to either weasel out paying the commission or they will drag their feet on it as long as possible.

As the agent, you could easily spend many many hours showing rentals and lose money doing it because rentals are not profitable for agents. Agents that are relatively new to the business will do rentals just to help build up their client portfolio. But if you get an agent who’s been in the business for a while, doesn’t try to pawn you off on another agent, and will take the time to actually show you rentals, they’re not doing it strictly for the money even if they do hope that you’ll remember them if If you ever need to buy a house.

• Call a few local title companies and see if you can get them to tell you what they think of the realtor that you’re considering working with. Title agents spend all day working with real estate agents and they’re the ones who know which agents are on their game and which ones are a shitshow. If you can get them to divulge anything, you may learn something valuable.

A good realtor is worth every penny you pay them and in addition buying or selling your home will:

• Listen to and help you manage your expectations.
• Make sure you get a knowledgeable and thorough home inspector.
• Keep you from getting the shit sued out of you for one of numerous mistakes.
• Make sure you fully understand the giant pile of paperwork you’ll be signing.
• Have O&E insurance so if they fuck up the paperwork, it’s on them and not you.
• Go to bat for you if you’re being discrimated against in any way by banks, buyers, sellers or landlords (all of which are rampant).

The problem is that a lot of realtors are good at “shaking hands and taking names” and terrible at everything else or they’re just plain unethical. Unfortunately, that’s the vast majority of realtors in my experience.

Source: wife is a realtor who tells me all kinds of “you’ll never believe the shit [other realtor] tried to pull today” stories.

My opinions are mixed. I like living here in general. I don’t like the extremely rapid transformation of Benton & Washington counties into a vast sea of urban/suburban sprawl.

We also have tons of serious social problems that get very neatly painted over by the relentless construction and “newness”.

I’m sure when Tom and Steuart have spent hundreds of millions of Jim’s money to transform this area into the “biking capital of the world”, all our problems will be solved. …ha ha.

As an Arkansan, I appreciate the thumbnail photo of Jim, Alice, and Rob Walton who earned their wealth the good old fashioned way. By inheriting it from their dad. They spent a decent chunk of it gentrifying the Northwest corner of the state to the point that if you were born here, you can no longer afford to live here.

Got-dangit!

“Softly” by Gordon Lightfoot is one of my favorite songs. On the surface it appears to be about a woman but I don’t think it is. I was listening to it one time when it just popped into my head, “Holy shit. He’s talking about the moon.”

I thought about writing him to ask if I was right and I kind of regret that I didn’t while he was still alive. The man was a poet of highest caliber. If you like or can at least listen to folk music, the album “Gord’s Gold” lives up to it’s name.

Presbyterians don’t have canonized saints but if they did, Fred Rogers would be the first on the list.

Knees are overrated.

Headlines a short time later…

“GOP Proposes Banning Sacrificial Death Miracles”

AP News - Decrying the seemingly miraculous events of last week as “blatant socialism” and, rather ironically, “part of the woke agenda”, house Republicans have introduced a bill that would make sacrificing ones life altruistically a felony. When asked how they planned to prosecute the rotting corpse of the accused were the bill to pass, House Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged the steep uphill battle, stating, “we will leave no gravestone unturned when it comes preventing ordinary Americans from having God-like benevolence and generosity forced upon them against their will.”

“…Well either you are closing your eyes to a situation that you do not wish to acknowledge, or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated by the presence of a pool table disappearance of household pets in your community! Weeeellll you got trouble, my friend. I say, trouble right here in River City.”

Sell your Enron stocks immediately!

My wife: “What are we doing this weekend?”

Me: “The same thing we do every weekend. Try and take over the world.”

Both of us laughing

Me: “No, seriously, I’ve got a bunch of yard work to do.”

I disagree with the idea that all insurance is a scam. Insurance is a risk mitigation tool. I’m fine with paying a little bit of money every month so that my family is financially secure if I die unexpectedly or I can replace my home if it burns down. All in all, insurance can be a fairly good and cost effective risk mitigation tool.

The problem is that an insurance business model is incompatible with healthcare. It’s not likely that I’m going to die within the next year. It’s very likely that I’m going to need medical care within the next year. As we [Americans] have increasingly leaned on health insurance to pay for routine medical care, health insurance companies have done a great job of muddying the water and making it more and more difficult to understand how the process works, much less get good quality medical care. There’s a clear conflict of interest between making money and paying for medical care.

Insurance itself isn’t bad. But health insurance is bad. The fact that health issurance is often tied to employment is also bad. Ironically, it has a negative impact on the economy. Maybe even a significant impact although that’s hard to say for sure.

If politicians really cared about small businesses, they would pass a universal healthcare bill ASAP. I would bet my left arm we would see a huge increase in small businesses if the potential small business owners didn’t have to worry about getting healthcare from their current employers.

I recently read some fluff piece predicting that Elon would be the first “trillionaire”.

You have to be morally bankrupt to be that rich.

“The police have been dispatched. Please lay on the floor in the ass beating receiving position and avoid any sudden movements such as sitting in your recliner or taking a nap.”

Starts off OK but ends in disappointment?

Nah man. Jesus is cool. It’s the people selling knockoffs that you gotta watch out for.

It’s not just you. That pretty much is your thirties. Most of the people I know in their 20’s (at least their early 20’s) are still making a point to hang out. Most of the guys over 60 are playing golf or getting a beer.

And then there’s my group: the ones who are working at their job all day, working at the endless list of projects around the house in the evenings, and spending the few spare moments they have in between with their family.

Sometimes I think maybe it would be nice to have more actual friends. But it doesn’t really bother me that I don’t. I’m pretty busy being a husband and a dad and everything in between and I’m happy with where I’m at right now. I know the way things are now is not permanent and nothing is set in stone.

On another note, the 30’s are good times. My favorite decade so far. Not always fun, but still good.