Vent thread

short+sassy · October 2016

I feel like a vent monster lately. And another one about real estate. I'm also a broken record.

I got a postcard in the mail from another investor looking to buy the duplex I bought a month ago. Advertising they offer "fair prices" (cue hysterical laughter). I do not have it for sale, but "blind" mailings are not that uncommon in the industry. Especially for multi's.

Not necessarily planning to sell but, I bought way under comps, so if I can make a quick $10K-$20K, that'd be great. Bought it for $71K, rehab $10K left. When done, comps will be $123K and it will rent for $1900 (total). It's pretty sweet. I search long and hard for those deals.

I call. I describe the house, the good and the major rehab items left. They like what they hear and tell me they will send an offer.

Totally expected to be low-balled. It's all part of the game. But for the love of all that's holy, can you at least not be morons with your low-ball? They offered me $65K. Like half what the house will be worth after fairly minimal rehab. Property sales are public record and, in my area, they are VERY easy to find online. A 30-second Google search would have told them they just offered me $6K less than what I paid for the house, one month ago.

I countered back at $89K. I'm sure it will go nowhere. Which is fine. Obviously I like the property or I wouldn't have bought it...a month ago. I actually would have countered back less if they'd sent me at least a reasonable low-ball. But now I'm feeling super b**chy toward them and side-eyeing them hard.

bleve0821 · October 2016

So today's vent... We just got our appraisal back. There were no problems with it based on the cover letter. I'm thinking, oh swell! This is perfect! No issues!

And then I start reading the appraisal and the first red flag that pops up is when the appraiser says that the square footage of the home is 380sqft bigger than the listing. I'm thinking, oh, well that would be great, but this house has been on the market twice in the last three years and both listings have listed the same square footage.

And the more I think about it, the more it worries me too, because unless those previous homeowners just blatantly ignored their appraisal, why would they list it as being smaller than it actually is? So now here I am, freaking out, because how much sense does that make?

So H and I sit down over Skype and we go over the drawing...

Not only is the math wrong, but when it is done correctly, which we did ourselves, the measurements he took don't even come out to the original listing size. It's 380sqft smaller.

And, of course, he compared the value of this house to other houses that are 380 sqft bigger.

Is it wrong for me to want this guy to lose his job? Math isn't hard. It's four fucking rectangles.

lyndausvi · October 2016

With the exception of the large furniture I pretty much single-handly moved our entire townhouse on my own. Not only did I do that, but I put everything away. Reorganized the closets and drawers. Found a home for every item. Including putting together DH's Container Store's Elfa closet system. Which isn't that easy by yourself.

The entire time I did this the dogs were with me.

One of DH's jobs was to put down carpet tape for the area rugs. He is YELLING at me to take care of one of the dogs. Are you kidding me?

Apparently the bulldog decided to lay on the carpet he is taping down. Umm, IDK, how about just pushing the dog out the to the hall and close the bedroom door. This is not difficult. Yet, apparently it is for DH. He needed help.

sigh

crowsgirl15 · October 2016

HR told me last week they are going to be looking into my job situation and potentially changing my title to match my job responsibilities (I've been working 2 pay grades up for 18 months). Our rep said he'd get back to me Monday, and it is now Wednesday night. I'm sure there's just a delay, but come on, folks! Don't you know I'm freaking out a bit here?!?!

kimmiinthemitten · October 2016

@lyndausvi I think the appropriate response is to lay down and cuddle that giant wrinkled slobbery pup!

@atomicblonde when our house was appraised for the refi, they listed it as a 3 bedroom, 2 car driveway. Umm we have a 4 bedroom, 4 car driveway. Thankfully the value still satisfied our requirements so we chose to ignore it because we plan on being here for a while but seriously, you have one job as an appraiser. Count the damn rooms.

bleve0821 · October 2016

kimmiinthemitten said:

@atomicblonde when our house was appraised for the refi, they listed it as a 3 bedroom, 2 car driveway. Umm we have a 4 bedroom, 4 car driveway. Thankfully the value still satisfied our requirements so we chose to ignore it because we plan on being here for a while but seriously, you have one job as an appraiser. Count the damn rooms.

Part of me feels like we should have just let it go, because now there's the question of whether the bank will approve the loan, since it appears to be overvalued, and then if they don't, the whole mess of not having a place to live and only have 3 weeks to go through this whole process again (which is impossible).

But the other part of me has that sneaking suspicion that letting it go, even though it's not a legally binding document and expires in 6 months, would have really bit us on the ass when it came time to sell.

*Barbie* · October 2016

The house *still* isn't done, and I had to fire the paint crew from Canada, yesterday. I'm trying to enjoy a few days off, and am still dealing with this nonsense at the house. The contract said to remove the wallpaper border, not halfass paint over it, jagoffs.

DK is super nice, hates confrontation - and I'm a project manager so he'll usually defer this stuff to me to handle. I was coaching him on how to manage the painters (our contractor subcontracted to the paint crew) - basically, "Our work order says X, so our expectation is you do X - you did Y, and that's not acceptable. You need to adhere to the work order, and if you have an issue with that, you need to talk to primary contractor about the job scope."

Despite DK sticking with that, the primary contractor talking to the painter about doing what's in the work order, and DK and showing him why the work (Y) was unacceptable, he still intended to go along with his plan Y. I asked DK to put me on the phone and basically into a heated conversation where I was told "you can't talk to me like that, I'm a white christian man" (no clue what in the hell that had to do with anything) and "you need to respect your elders, young lady" - I was done. I told him that I didn't want him on my property, because he was obviously incapable of completing the work per the contract and his behavior was completely out of line. DK said the guy was practically in tears when he got off the phone, and that he basically threw a tantrum and left.

I'll be happy to respect my elders when they're not behaving like toddlers.

short+sassy · October 2016

AtomicBlonde said:

kimmiinthemitten said:

@atomicblonde when our house was appraised for the refi, they listed it as a 3 bedroom, 2 car driveway. Umm we have a 4 bedroom, 4 car driveway. Thankfully the value still satisfied our requirements so we chose to ignore it because we plan on being here for a while but seriously, you have one job as an appraiser. Count the damn rooms.

Part of me feels like we should have just let it go, because now there's the question of whether the bank will approve the loan, since it appears to be overvalued, and then if they don't, the whole mess of not having a place to live and only have 3 weeks to go through this whole process again (which is impossible).

But the other part of me has that sneaking suspicion that letting it go, even though it's not a legally binding document and expires in 6 months, would have really bit us on the ass when it came time to sell.

It is ridiculous, but appraisals should be taken with a grain of salt. They are part art, part science. And I always assume the square footage in a listing is an educated guess. There is usually words to that effect in the PA agreement.

Your bank probably only cares that the house appraises for at least the value of the loan they are giving you.

I have had an appraisal done on my personal duplex home 4x. Once for my original mortgage. Once to get a Home Equity Line of Credit. And twice more when I've wanted an increase to my HELOC. Two of those agreed on the sq. ft., the other two were different from that and different from each other. They weren't way off from each other, but still.

Oh! And the original listing had the sq. ft. as 2900 sq. ft. I took one look at the house and eyeballed that was b.s. It's 1968 sq. ft. At least that's the size the two appraisals agree on, lol. I've also seen where sellers shortchange themselves and list sq. ft. that is lower than it really is. It's astounding, but even with something as big as a home sale/purchase, people can be really lazy.

One of them listed the wrong rental amount for my rental side. Which is a black/white fact that I TOLD them. My latest one used a comp in a VERY different neighborhood (read sketchy and bad).

If it isn't too late in the due diligence process, you can send the seller the drawing with the measurements and point out the house is 380 sq. ft. smaller than the listing showed. And request an appropriate or at least some reduction in the price. However, square footage is only one element that helps determine a fair price for the house.

bleve0821 · October 2016

short+sassy said:

AtomicBlonde said:

kimmiinthemitten said:

@atomicblonde when our house was appraised for the refi, they listed it as a 3 bedroom, 2 car driveway. Umm we have a 4 bedroom, 4 car driveway. Thankfully the value still satisfied our requirements so we chose to ignore it because we plan on being here for a while but seriously, you have one job as an appraiser. Count the damn rooms.

Part of me feels like we should have just let it go, because now there's the question of whether the bank will approve the loan, since it appears to be overvalued, and then if they don't, the whole mess of not having a place to live and only have 3 weeks to go through this whole process again (which is impossible).

But the other part of me has that sneaking suspicion that letting it go, even though it's not a legally binding document and expires in 6 months, would have really bit us on the ass when it came time to sell.

It is ridiculous, but appraisals should be taken with a grain of salt. They are part art, part science. And I always assume the square footage in a listing is an educated guess. There is usually words to that effect in the PA agreement.
Your bank probably only cares that the house appraises for at least the value of the loan they are giving you.
I have had an appraisal done on my personal duplex home 4x. Once for my original mortgage. Once to get a Home Equity Line of Credit. And twice more when I've wanted an increase to my HELOC. Two of those agreed on the sq. ft., the other two were different from that and different from each other. They weren't way off from each other, but still.
Oh! And the original listing had the sq. ft. as 2900 sq. ft. I took one look at the house and eyeballed that was b.s. It's 1968 sq. ft. At least that's the size the two appraisals agree on, lol. I've also seen where sellers shortchange themselves and list sq. ft. that is lower than it really is. It's astounding, but even with something as big as a home sale/purchase, people can be really lazy.
One of them listed the wrong rental amount for my rental side. Which is a black/white fact that I TOLD them. My latest one used a comp in a VERY different neighborhood (read sketchy and bad).
If it isn't too late in the due diligence process, you can send the seller the drawing with the measurements and point out the house is 380 sq. ft. smaller than the listing showed. And request an appropriate or at least some reduction in the price. However, square footage is only one element that helps determine a fair price for the house.

Well, the math was actually wrong. The house is an "L", with the front bedroom extending out as the foot. The appraiser measured the depth of the house as 50', from the front of that bedroom to the back of the house, but the front bedroom comes out 12' from the rest of the house. So instead of measuring the LR/kitchen/etc rest of the house as being 12' back from the foot of the "L" (e.g. 38' depth), he somehow came up with 47.5'.

The drawing measurement is correct, and correctly lists the dimensions, but the wrong number was used for the area calculation (a number which doesn't even exist on the dimensional drawing). When the actual depth of the house is used (38'), the square footage matches the listing. (So what he did was AxB, where A was correct, but B should have been 38'.)

Idk if that made even a little bit of sense, it was too much effort to draw a picture.

short+sassy · October 2016

AtomicBlonde said:

short+sassy said:

AtomicBlonde said:

kimmiinthemitten said:

@atomicblonde when our house was appraised for the refi, they listed it as a 3 bedroom, 2 car driveway. Umm we have a 4 bedroom, 4 car driveway. Thankfully the value still satisfied our requirements so we chose to ignore it because we plan on being here for a while but seriously, you have one job as an appraiser. Count the damn rooms.

Part of me feels like we should have just let it go, because now there's the question of whether the bank will approve the loan, since it appears to be overvalued, and then if they don't, the whole mess of not having a place to live and only have 3 weeks to go through this whole process again (which is impossible).

But the other part of me has that sneaking suspicion that letting it go, even though it's not a legally binding document and expires in 6 months, would have really bit us on the ass when it came time to sell.

It is ridiculous, but appraisals should be taken with a grain of salt. They are part art, part science. And I always assume the square footage in a listing is an educated guess. There is usually words to that effect in the PA agreement.
Your bank probably only cares that the house appraises for at least the value of the loan they are giving you.
I have had an appraisal done on my personal duplex home 4x. Once for my original mortgage. Once to get a Home Equity Line of Credit. And twice more when I've wanted an increase to my HELOC. Two of those agreed on the sq. ft., the other two were different from that and different from each other. They weren't way off from each other, but still.
Oh! And the original listing had the sq. ft. as 2900 sq. ft. I took one look at the house and eyeballed that was b.s. It's 1968 sq. ft. At least that's the size the two appraisals agree on, lol. I've also seen where sellers shortchange themselves and list sq. ft. that is lower than it really is. It's astounding, but even with something as big as a home sale/purchase, people can be really lazy.
One of them listed the wrong rental amount for my rental side. Which is a black/white fact that I TOLD them. My latest one used a comp in a VERY different neighborhood (read sketchy and bad).
If it isn't too late in the due diligence process, you can send the seller the drawing with the measurements and point out the house is 380 sq. ft. smaller than the listing showed. And request an appropriate or at least some reduction in the price. However, square footage is only one element that helps determine a fair price for the house.

Well, the math was actually wrong. The house is an "L", with the front bedroom extending out as the foot. The appraiser measured the depth of the house as 50', from the front of that bedroom to the back of the house, but the front bedroom comes out 12' from the rest of the house. So instead of measuring the LR/kitchen/etc rest of the house as being 12' back from the foot of the "L" (e.g. 38' depth), he somehow came up with 47.5'.

The drawing measurement is correct, and correctly lists the dimensions, but the wrong number was used for the area calculation (a number which doesn't even exist on the dimensional drawing). When the actual depth of the house is used (38'), the square footage matches the listing. (So what he did was AxB, where A was correct, but B should have been 38'.)

Idk if that made even a little bit of sense, it was too much effort to draw a picture.

Thanks! That makes perfect sense. I can picture it. I misunderstood and thought the square footage in the house listing was wrong also.

Even if the appraisal is "off" a bit, your bank won't notice and I doubt they'd care if they did. From their perspective, an appraisal is primarily something to "check off" for the loan package. Sure, they want to make sure they are not putting themselves in an upside-down situation, but as long as that appraisal number is equal to or greater than the loan amount, they're happy.

Out of curiosity, have you crunched the numbers to even see if that 380 sq. ft. dollar difference would even be a tipping point to throw the house value off-kilter to the loan? For example, just to make the math easy, if values in your area are $100/sf, that would lower your appraisal by $3800.

mrsconn23 · October 2016

*Barbie* said:

The house *still* isn't done, and I had to fire the paint crew from Canada, yesterday. I'm trying to enjoy a few days off, and am still dealing with this nonsense at the house. The contract said to remove the wallpaper border, not halfass paint over it, jagoffs.

DK is super nice, hates confrontation - and I'm a project manager so he'll usually defer this stuff to me to handle. I was coaching him on how to manage the painters (our contractor subcontracted to the paint crew) - basically, "Our work order says X, so our expectation is you do X - you did Y, and that's not acceptable. You need to adhere to the work order, and if you have an issue with that, you need to talk to primary contractor about the job scope."

Despite DK sticking with that, the primary contractor talking to the painter about doing what's in the work order, and DK and showing him why the work (Y) was unacceptable, he still intended to go along with his plan Y. I asked DK to put me on the phone and basically into a heated conversation where I was told "you can't talk to me like that, I'm a white christian man" (no clue what in the hell that had to do with anything) and "you need to respect your elders, young lady" - I was done. I told him that I didn't want him on my property, because he was obviously incapable of completing the work per the contract and his behavior was completely out of line. DK said the guy was practically in tears when he got off the phone, and that he basically threw a tantrum and left.

I'll be happy to respect my elders when they're not behaving like toddlers.

Holy shit. That is cuh-razy. I'd be on every fucking review site trying to ensure he doesn't get to paint so much as a paint-by-numbers dog house. What an asshole and a bully. I feel bad for people who don't have the fortitude to stand up to him and let him push them around like that. Dude should not be in a service industry at all.

short+sassy · October 2016

*Barbie* said:

The house *still* isn't done, and I had to fire the paint crew from Canada, yesterday. I'm trying to enjoy a few days off, and am still dealing with this nonsense at the house. The contract said to remove the wallpaper border, not halfass paint over it, jagoffs.

DK is super nice, hates confrontation - and I'm a project manager so he'll usually defer this stuff to me to handle. I was coaching him on how to manage the painters (our contractor subcontracted to the paint crew) - basically, "Our work order says X, so our expectation is you do X - you did Y, and that's not acceptable. You need to adhere to the work order, and if you have an issue with that, you need to talk to primary contractor about the job scope."

Despite DK sticking with that, the primary contractor talking to the painter about doing what's in the work order, and DK and showing him why the work (Y) was unacceptable, he still intended to go along with his plan Y. I asked DK to put me on the phone and basically into a heated conversation where I was told "you can't talk to me like that, I'm a white christian man" (no clue what in the hell that had to do with anything) and "you need to respect your elders, young lady" - I was done. I told him that I didn't want him on my property, because he was obviously incapable of completing the work per the contract and his behavior was completely out of line. DK said the guy was practically in tears when he got off the phone, and that he basically threw a tantrum and left.

I'll be happy to respect my elders when they're not behaving like toddlers.

WTF?!?! NO, he needs to respect his CUSTOMERS and the scope of work he has already been CONTRACTED for. Unreal.

And, if I'm understanding the conflict, in what world would someone agree to have their wallpaper PAINTED OVER instead of removed. That's something (maybe) a super lazy DIY'er would do.

DrillSergeantCat · October 2016

@short+sassy I've had wallpaper painted over before because it was on sooo well that it would have damaged the wall to remove.

On another note. I had to unfriend someone today because ALL he has posted ALL day long is pictures regarding late term abortion and repeating what Trump said about it. I'm sorry, but late term abortion is not done for the same reasons as abortions done before 24 weeks. They are typically done because the fetus is not compatible with life not because the mother decided she wasn't ready to be a mother. The cost alone is prohibitive of that reason AND clinics that offer late term abortions are few and far between. These people act like it's an easy choice to continue a pregnancy, being asked daily about the baby, while knowing the might live a minute or two in pain.

short+sassy · October 2016

DrillSergeantCat said:

@short+sassy I've had wallpaper painted over before because it was on sooo well that it would have damaged the wall to remove.

On another note. I had to unfriend someone today because ALL he has posted ALL day long is pictures regarding late term abortion and repeating what Trump said about it. I'm sorry, but late term abortion is not done for the same reasons as abortions done before 24 weeks. They are typically done because the fetus is not compatible with life not because the mother decided she wasn't ready to be a mother. The cost alone is prohibitive of that reason AND clinics that offer late term abortions are few and far between. These people act like it's an easy choice to continue a pregnancy, being asked daily about the baby, while knowing the might live a minute or two in pain.

Thanks for this! Yes, some people forget that abortions can be medically necessary and/or kinder to a fetus who has a terrible, fatal medical condition.

Just like some people are too clueless to know...mainly old, rich, Republican men (now I'm stereotyping)...that birth control pills are a medicine that does MORE than prevent pregnancy. It is medically necessary for many women and just damn convenient for others...even if they are celibate. I know the pain and discomfort I have during my period is GREATLY relieved if I am taking BCPs.

Fortunately I have never been in that position, but I get really riled up whenever I read some news story about Company X refusing to allow their healthcare provider to cover BCPs for "moral" reasons. Putting aside "they hugely suck for their attitude". It's a medicine. That is used for medical problems, outside of birth control. Why is that hard to understand?

DrillSergeantCat · October 2016

@short+sassy another friend just posted one of Hillary that reads "Listen, it's simple. We've got to ban the guns to save the toddlers and we've got to have late term abortions to kill the babies" after posting "I want to protect toddlers from guns but I have no problem murdering a 9 month old fetus." She's a fucking NURSE! She, of all people, should understand what a "late term" abortion entails and the reasons it's done.

As for the companies not wanting to cover BC, I can't believe it's anything more than a cost saving measure for them. For years, I was on BC simply because my PCOS was so bad that I was having issues without them.

*Barbie* · October 2016

the work that was discussed with the project manager from the beginning of the job was to remove the wallpaper border. we were assured that it wouldn't be a problem. the thing is maybe 8-12" wide, and less than 15 linear feet. (between the giant mirror, the door frames, and the shower, there's not a lot of it.

to my knowledge, the guy scraped at it with a putty knife, said it wouldn't come off and put a layer of some sort of putty and then paint over it. predictably, it looks like shit, and i had no qualms about telling him so.

i told the project manager that as far as i was concerned, if it takes them cutting off the top 8-12" of drywall and putting up new, reseaming and then painting, I wasn't going to pay anything additional, because if anything, this guy now made it more difficult to get off.

the super ironic part is that the painter was complaining to us and to our project manager about all of the rework running up his hours and such because somebody had painted over wallpaper downstairs and when he painted it, it was bubbling. we've lived in the house for 6 years and have done nothing to the walls - so all of this pre-dates our ownership. ultimately, it doesn't matter, the expectation is that he makes it look like it did before the water damage - and nothing was bubbled then. so basically, he bitches about a problem in our downstairs and then creates the same problem in our master bath. ok, buddy.

most of the downstairs work was covered under our insurance claim, but the master bath is 100% out of pocket for us, so it needs to be done right - and that means removing the paper by whatever means necessary.

the other comment that I made to the PM is that this guy *never* works more than 4-5 hours on a given day, so if he's billing the GM for full days, he's absolutely not fulfilling that.

levioosa · October 2016

I just had a friend post a link to a blog saying that late term abortions for "health reasons" are a lie perpetuated by the media. I couldn't even respond. Clearly you don't want to listen to research if you just cite blogs without actually researching the conditions.

GBCK · October 2016

DrillSergeantCat said:

@short+sassy another friend just posted one of Hillary that reads "Listen, it's simple. We've got to ban the guns to save the toddlers and we've got to have late term abortions to kill the babies" after posting "I want to protect toddlers from guns but I have no problem murdering a 9 month old fetus." She's a fucking NURSE! She, of all people, should understand what a "late term" abortion entails and the reasons it's done.

As for the companies not wanting to cover BC, I can't believe it's anything more than a cost saving measure for them. For years, I was on BC simply because my PCOS was so bad that I was having issues without them.

From a pure cost standpoint though, put BC in the fuckin water. KIds and pregnancy will always cost more than prevention, wont' it?

But, as someone whose hormone choices have generally had as much to do w/ health issues (hi, debilitating cramps and daily migraines, FUVM assholes) as preventing pregnancy, I've got no problem telling everyone to eff off on that subject. (obviously. )

DrillSergeantCat · October 2016

@GBCK I didn't say it was an effective cost saving measure!

kimmiinthemitten · October 2016

Someone on my feed said they will never support ending the life of anything with a heartbeat. I responded "does that include the mother?"

DrillSergeantCat · October 2016

kimmiinthemitten said:

Someone on my feed said they will never support ending the life of anything with a heartbeat. I responded "does that include the mother?"

Are they vegan?

lovesclimbing · October 2016

H and I are moving and decided to sell our dresser. It's not new. We bought it second hand. It has scuffs on it and some of the drawers don't slide on the rails anymore, but it works and I put all that in the description along with the dimensions and photos. I was only asking $20 for it. Lots of interest so I start going down the list of comments.

First lady says last night that she'll come look at it in the morning between 9 and 9:30. Messages me at 9:25 to say "oh the space wasn't big enough. I'll pass." I wanted to reply "And why couldn't you tell me this 12 hours ago and given me that much more time to contact the next people? Better still, why did you post that you were interested when you didn't even know if you actually wanted it? Thanks for wasting my time." But I didn't.

Next person comes over and doesn't want it because it's too big. Once again, THE DIMENSIONS ARE IN THE DESCRIPTION! It's not rocket science.

I modified the posting and added "please note the dimensions. Please don't post that you're interested unless you know it will fit." Measuring tapes aren't some foreign mysterious object, people!

Next person comes by and doesn't want it because the drawers are off the rails. Once again, this was in the description! I didn't think fast enough to say, "I know, didn't you read the description?"

Next person on the list passed because it was too big.

Finally, a lady comes by and buys it after coming in and saying "oh, it's a little tall." I said "it's 30 inches. I think that's what I posted" and said "oh yea."

So it's finally gone and I'm reminded of why I hate selling a things online. My time is valuable and I had people who waste my time.

There's my looooong vent. /end rant.

kvruns · October 2016

@lovesclimbing that sounds super annoying!! I actively participate in a local fb group for baby stuff and some people on there just make me shake my head. I feel bad for someone who has 10 people in line as interested and then people no show or never respond. It isn't that hard people. Twice I've offered up free items and I swear it was a pain to get people to come get it, drives me crazy. Whereas I've purchased a ton of stuff on there and either pick up same day or next day depending on when it is arranged.

SaintPaulGal · October 2016

Totally agree with craigslist/facebook group sales obnoxiousness. So aggravating! This spring I was ripping out a gigantic patch of day lilies that came with the house to make way for some gooseberry bushes I wanted to put in. I just wanted to share plants I didn't want with people who did want them, so I posted them free on craigslist with a note that the recipient would have to help dig and I wanted them gone ASAP. I got absolutely overwhelming response--probably 30-40 people. Well from that list:

-The first lady couldn't come until the weekend. I had already told her she was first so I decided I would wait. Waited for 3 days only to have her cancel because she had arthritis and thought it would be hard to dig. (And she somehow didn't have that problem 3 days ago?

-Multiple people in a row agreed to come and then had various "transportation issues" leading them to cancel.

-A full week after my post I finally got someone to show up. She had said she was filling a giant area and would take all that were available, but she wound up taking just a couple of clumps and deciding that was enough.

-Two more "sorry, my car broke down"

So at this point I decide to dig them all out on my own because I really need to plant my gooseberries before the bare root plants I bought start to suffer pretty severely. I dig them all out and put them in the back yard. Talk to another person who wants them all. He will have to drive in from over an hour outside of the city. I tell him a certain time after which we will be home. Get a call 2 hours before that saying that he is at the house and he rang the bell and nobody answered and are we really the owners or just messing with him. Dude, you are TWO HOURS earlier than the earliest time I said you could come and I am at work! A friend that lives a couple of blocks away was at home and he was kind enough to help this guy out. Thankfully he did take all the remaining plants so my saga could finally be over. I can't believe how hard it was to give away something that scores of people claimed to want!

MissKittyDanger · October 2016

@SaintPaulGal what did the guy say when you told him he was 2hrs early?

SaintPaulGal · October 2016

MissKittyDanger said:

@SaintPaulGal what did the guy say when you told him he was 2hrs early?

He was totally dismissive and tried to act like I was inconveniencing him by not being there (when I TOLD him I wouldn't be) after he drove so far. If I hadn't already been through so much trying to get rid of those damn day lilies I would have just told him to either wait two hours or go pound sand. But at that point I was pretty desperate to just be done with it.

Heffalump · October 2016

SaintPaulGal said:

Totally agree with craigslist/facebook group sales obnoxiousness. So aggravating!

Totally agree with you. I used FB to unload a ton of baby gear when we moved, and I had to be a total hardass about it. People would call and ask if I could hold something for them 'til the weekend, their great-aunt had dropsy or whatever, and I was always "First come, first served, best of luck."

I used to volunteer at an animal shelter, so I've seen how flaky humanity can be, even with the best of intentions. They refused to hold pets for prospective adopters for that very same reason.

DrillSergeantCat · October 2016

@lovesclimbing & @SaintPaulGal this was going to be my vent today too. I put some antique dishes on facebook and immediately get a hit. She says she's going to try to get the money together and I tell her good luck, no holds. The next person asks if there are any chips or scratches, I tell her they are in perfect condition.

She then says, "Would you take any less? I know you said they are worth more on eBay, but I'm wanting to surprise my mom with them. My 93 year old grandma had some and gave them away to my aunt, who I think may have sold them."

I say, "No," which apparently wasn't clear enough. The listing shows my zip code and she knew this when she messaged me. However, she then says where she lives is quite a drive and would I consider $40 "just to help offset fuel cost?"

I said, "I could be asking $320 for these. $50 is an extremely fair price." Apparently that also wasn't clear enough as she then goes into a spiel about how she's low on money, ill, and awaiting disability.

I reiterate that I am not willing to sell the dishes for less than asking regardless of her financial situation and advise her to take the offer or leave it. At this point, she's decided that saying will you take less money to "offset fuel cost" wasn't her actually asking for me to pay her fuel costs and I must have misunderstood. She then said, "I'm very glad I did ask, so I could get a better idea of they (sic) type of seller I'm dealing with. I don't do business with someone with that kind of attitude, regardless of price or how much money I have. PASS. And I pray that God grant you double your portion of goodness and mercy all the days of your life."

Is that some sort of bingo? If only she'd first told me she felt sorry for my husband...

short+sassy · October 2016

In regards to all the posts about flaky people, I just don't get it either! Don't get it!!! If I want to buy something or plan something, I've already "thought about it" and am ready to go, "cash in hand". It's really not that hard. If I change my mind/can't meet someone, I let them know as soon as I know.

I'm very much that way with my rentals where the stakes are pretty big. Until a signed lease and the security deposit is in my hand...or even part of a security deposit, I will keep showing a unit. Because people suck and change their mind, especially if they don't have "skin in the game".

Every once in awhile, I rent one of my units out as a vacation rental, if I am in-between tenants during Jazz Fest or Mardi Gras. I still remember this one woman who was begging me for almost 5 minutes on the phone to hold the vacation rental for her...without a deposit...until she could "double check with her friend" later that night. OH! But they definitely wanted it. Would definitely rent it. Definitely.

Ummm...yet apparently not "definitely enough" to put a deposit down, lol. Idiot. Just to get her off the phone, I finally told her I would give her the "right of first refusal". As in, if I had someone else interested I'd call her back before accepting. Which was a bit of a lie. If someone left me a message, I'd call her back first. But if I'm on the horn with someone ready to give up the credit card, 'eff her and her mamby-pambiness.

I got 3-4 messages from interested parties after I had gone to bed. A bit odd they were all so late, but awesome. She had still not called me back. The next morning, I called her back before calling any of them. With a "Hey, it's short+sassy, we spoke yesterday about your party wanting to rent out my space for Mardi Gras and I promised you right of first refusal. I have a line of interested people to call back so, hopefully you have talked to your friend and are ready with the deposit to hold it." Shocked silence on the other end for a few beats. Then "Miss Please Take Your Ad Down Because We Definitely Want It", from not even 12 hours before, starts stammering her excuses. Someone was sick, they weren't going anymore, whatever. I cut her off mid-excuse, "Okay. Not a problem." Click.

Heffalump · October 2016

Today's vent: hey, guy at Target, with three huge pumpkins in his cart and no idea how to ring them up in the self checkout line? Maybe self checkout wasn't a smart move today.

One register was down--the cover was open, it was dead. Another one had a woman whose card kept getting rejected, so that left two registers, and one of those was Punkin. Grrrrrrrr.

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