Juls and I decided to head out in the storm to shovel off our deck this past Saturday. After all the work, we couldn't pass up an opportunity for a little fun. The best part is Gus came to the rescue and quickly attacked me!
We're always looking for new real estate -http://www.sunsetmaplegroup.com/.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
You never know how things will turn out..or where they'll turn up
As many of you know, Juls and I are selling our house. We're doing most of marketing on the web and have the property listed on sites like zillow.com, redfin.com, craigslist and many other sites. Strangely enough I posted the ad early Tuesday morning. Little did I know how fortunate I was to have posted the ad when I did...
So it was early in the afternoon Tuesday and a few coworkers and I got the itch and decided to get out for a bit. We took a quick trip up to Chipotle (aka. the greatest "fast food" establishment ever) on St. Paul St. in Baltimore. We walked in, hopped in line and began planning our creations. The only issue was when I went looking, I realized my creation was about to be underfunded as my wallet wasn't in my pocket.
At these points, you begin asking yourself a million questions and the first one was answered after I ran out to my coworkers car and realized my wallet wasn't there. "Where could it be?" I wondered. Then I began to think, this wouldn't be the first time something disappeared from my desk only to be returned later in the day by a wide smiling coworker. With that, my panic was abated. I returned inside, borrowed a few bucks for lunch and sat down for a quick meal thinking my wallet would be there waiting for me when I got back.
We later returned to the office, but to my surprise this wasn't another bad joke. Instead my wallet was still missing. I double checked my jacket, my pants, my desk, my briefcase, my coworkers car, sent out an office wide email and decided to return to St. Paul St. for a second look. I drove past where we had parked and ran into Chipotle. Unfortunately, they didn't have any good news.
As I returned outside my phone began to ring. Who could this be? I thought. Then I remembered we had listed our house in the morning and I realized it was probably someone calling about the listing. I decided I might as well try and make something good out of the situation, so I decided to pick up and it went a bit like this.
"Hello, this is Steve." -Me
"Steve, hello. Do you have a house listed on zillow.com at 3027 North Branch Lane?"
"I sure do. How can I help you?"
"Are you also missing a wallet?"
After a brief chuckle, I said "That would also be me."
We continued to speak until I got direction up to the school where my wallet was waiting for me. My first thought was, someone must be watching out for me and strangely enough, the school is named St. Elizabeth. Coincidence, possibly, but that won't keep me from thanking the big guy for watching out for me that day.
It turns out that an incredibly kind citizen had picked up my wallet in the road on St. Paul St. The wallet now bears some tire treads so I imagine it was there for a bit. She ended up poking her head into a few of the local stores and after she didn't see me, she decided to return back to the office. You might ask, how she would know who I am. I wondered that too until I remembered she had a copy of my picture ID (drivers license), as well as everything else I keep my in my castanza-wallet. They even used that same ID to Google our address and find our contact information on the zillow ad I had posted that morning...
With that said, we never know how things will turn out. Was it coincidence that we posted our house online that morning or that a good samaritan happened to pick it up my wallet or that they had the great idea to look me up and give me a call. I certainly couldn't have planned that and just thought I'd share my funny, yet crazy story. Have a great day!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
We're always looking for new real estate -http://www.sunsetmaplegroup.com/.
So it was early in the afternoon Tuesday and a few coworkers and I got the itch and decided to get out for a bit. We took a quick trip up to Chipotle (aka. the greatest "fast food" establishment ever) on St. Paul St. in Baltimore. We walked in, hopped in line and began planning our creations. The only issue was when I went looking, I realized my creation was about to be underfunded as my wallet wasn't in my pocket.
At these points, you begin asking yourself a million questions and the first one was answered after I ran out to my coworkers car and realized my wallet wasn't there. "Where could it be?" I wondered. Then I began to think, this wouldn't be the first time something disappeared from my desk only to be returned later in the day by a wide smiling coworker. With that, my panic was abated. I returned inside, borrowed a few bucks for lunch and sat down for a quick meal thinking my wallet would be there waiting for me when I got back.
We later returned to the office, but to my surprise this wasn't another bad joke. Instead my wallet was still missing. I double checked my jacket, my pants, my desk, my briefcase, my coworkers car, sent out an office wide email and decided to return to St. Paul St. for a second look. I drove past where we had parked and ran into Chipotle. Unfortunately, they didn't have any good news.
As I returned outside my phone began to ring. Who could this be? I thought. Then I remembered we had listed our house in the morning and I realized it was probably someone calling about the listing. I decided I might as well try and make something good out of the situation, so I decided to pick up and it went a bit like this.
"Hello, this is Steve." -Me
"Steve, hello. Do you have a house listed on zillow.com at 3027 North Branch Lane?"
"I sure do. How can I help you?"
"Are you also missing a wallet?"
After a brief chuckle, I said "That would also be me."
We continued to speak until I got direction up to the school where my wallet was waiting for me. My first thought was, someone must be watching out for me and strangely enough, the school is named St. Elizabeth. Coincidence, possibly, but that won't keep me from thanking the big guy for watching out for me that day.
It turns out that an incredibly kind citizen had picked up my wallet in the road on St. Paul St. The wallet now bears some tire treads so I imagine it was there for a bit. She ended up poking her head into a few of the local stores and after she didn't see me, she decided to return back to the office. You might ask, how she would know who I am. I wondered that too until I remembered she had a copy of my picture ID (drivers license), as well as everything else I keep my in my castanza-wallet. They even used that same ID to Google our address and find our contact information on the zillow ad I had posted that morning...
With that said, we never know how things will turn out. Was it coincidence that we posted our house online that morning or that a good samaritan happened to pick it up my wallet or that they had the great idea to look me up and give me a call. I certainly couldn't have planned that and just thought I'd share my funny, yet crazy story. Have a great day!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
We're always looking for new real estate -http://www.sunsetmaplegroup.com/.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Words left unsaid - funny story
I had a "funny" experience earlier this week and thought I'd share it. Now I've only been married for 5 months, but my wife feared I was drawing our relation to a close after a slight whoops on my behalf. No need to panic, as we couldn't be happier, but see if you find this as funny as I do...
My wife is a spectacular cook and decided to cook an interesting and surprisingly healthy casserole last weekend. It's comprised of many seasonal items including kale, potatoes and onions and is topped off with turkey kielbasa and Munster cheese. Now it's also fairly hearty so we figured we'd spread it out over a number of meals during the week. I had casserole for dinner Monday and Wednesday and doubled up for lunch and dinner Tuesday and Thursday.
With that said, by Thursday at lunch I was quickly realizing that I had had my fill of casserole so I decided to let my wife know. It happened to be lunch time so I shot her a message over GCHAT (GMAILS's web-based chat function). I began with "I love you sweetie," and continued with "but I can't do this any more." Before I could type "the casserole is getting the best of me" or something of the like, my boss dropped by with a major fire (alarm) that required immediate attention. I quickly closed my chat window and began tackling the task at hand. Now my wife called a few minutes later and I asked if I could call her back. She said "fine," and seemed a bit perturbed, but I blazed on thinking she's just having a rough day. I finally drew the issue to the end and call Juls, my wife, and it went a bit like this:
"Hi." -Me
"What do you mean you can't do this anymore?!" -Juls
"What are you talking about?" -Me
"You sent me a message that said 'You can't do this anymore' then immediately put up a busy message'." -Juls
"I signed off a few minutes ago, but I was talking about the casserole." -Me
"What?!" -Juls [Turns out I had left my computer signed on at home, so Juls thought I was just ignoring her. That coupled with the call I just blew off didn't help.]
"Yeah, I can't eat the casserole any more. After eating eating it all week, it's getting the best of me." -Me
"You idiot!" -Juls
"Did I not add the part about the casserole?" -Me [This is when I begin laughing]
"No! Do you think this is funny?!" -Julia
"I'm sorry, I had to work on something with the boss and closed the window immediately." -Me [Still laughing]
"Here I am thinking you're calling things off on GCHAT?!" - Julia
We eventually brought the conversation to a close and continued checking in during the afternoon. Juls eventually began to see the humor in it and I began to sympathize with her concern. I ended up (voluntarily) finishing the casserole when she got home after work and by the end of the evening we were back to our good old selves. We even attended our local real estate investor association (REIA) meeting and learned a lot about tax strategies, but I couldn't help but chuckle about the situation the whole time.
As a result of the events I got the chance to reflect on and remind myself of a few things:
1. If you are going to say something slightly stupid, at least finish you're thought.
2. I plan to be happily married for the rest of my life, but if any of you see relationships drawing to a close, natural or not, at least make every effort to speak to the person. I'm no modern day Shakespeare and find it's very hard to convey any true feelings through the written word. Email may be better than a casual web based chat, but regardless, bring things to a close the best way you can for both of your sake aka. not GCHAT.
3. Always see the humor in things and be appreciative of what you have. My wife is a very lovely and fortunately forgiving person. After days like this, I'm glad we can look back and laugh for many years to come.
With that said, hope you have a great week and take care.
[We're always looking for new real estate -http://www.sunsetmaplegroup.com/]
My wife is a spectacular cook and decided to cook an interesting and surprisingly healthy casserole last weekend. It's comprised of many seasonal items including kale, potatoes and onions and is topped off with turkey kielbasa and Munster cheese. Now it's also fairly hearty so we figured we'd spread it out over a number of meals during the week. I had casserole for dinner Monday and Wednesday and doubled up for lunch and dinner Tuesday and Thursday.
With that said, by Thursday at lunch I was quickly realizing that I had had my fill of casserole so I decided to let my wife know. It happened to be lunch time so I shot her a message over GCHAT (GMAILS's web-based chat function). I began with "I love you sweetie," and continued with "but I can't do this any more." Before I could type "the casserole is getting the best of me" or something of the like, my boss dropped by with a major fire (alarm) that required immediate attention. I quickly closed my chat window and began tackling the task at hand. Now my wife called a few minutes later and I asked if I could call her back. She said "fine," and seemed a bit perturbed, but I blazed on thinking she's just having a rough day. I finally drew the issue to the end and call Juls, my wife, and it went a bit like this:
"Hi." -Me
"What do you mean you can't do this anymore?!" -Juls
"What are you talking about?" -Me
"You sent me a message that said 'You can't do this anymore' then immediately put up a busy message'." -Juls
"I signed off a few minutes ago, but I was talking about the casserole." -Me
"What?!" -Juls [Turns out I had left my computer signed on at home, so Juls thought I was just ignoring her. That coupled with the call I just blew off didn't help.]
"Yeah, I can't eat the casserole any more. After eating eating it all week, it's getting the best of me." -Me
"You idiot!" -Juls
"Did I not add the part about the casserole?" -Me [This is when I begin laughing]
"No! Do you think this is funny?!" -Julia
"I'm sorry, I had to work on something with the boss and closed the window immediately." -Me [Still laughing]
"Here I am thinking you're calling things off on GCHAT?!" - Julia
We eventually brought the conversation to a close and continued checking in during the afternoon. Juls eventually began to see the humor in it and I began to sympathize with her concern. I ended up (voluntarily) finishing the casserole when she got home after work and by the end of the evening we were back to our good old selves. We even attended our local real estate investor association (REIA) meeting and learned a lot about tax strategies, but I couldn't help but chuckle about the situation the whole time.
As a result of the events I got the chance to reflect on and remind myself of a few things:
1. If you are going to say something slightly stupid, at least finish you're thought.
2. I plan to be happily married for the rest of my life, but if any of you see relationships drawing to a close, natural or not, at least make every effort to speak to the person. I'm no modern day Shakespeare and find it's very hard to convey any true feelings through the written word. Email may be better than a casual web based chat, but regardless, bring things to a close the best way you can for both of your sake aka. not GCHAT.
3. Always see the humor in things and be appreciative of what you have. My wife is a very lovely and fortunately forgiving person. After days like this, I'm glad we can look back and laugh for many years to come.
With that said, hope you have a great week and take care.
[We're always looking for new real estate -http://www.sunsetmaplegroup.com/]
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
New day - New blog
So I figured I'd give this blogging thing a shot. It's an interesting time in my life, having recently been married to my lovely and beautiful wife Julia. We're both juggling a full time jobs, striving to become successful entrepreneurs and I am tracking to become an accomplished distance athlete. My wife is a better runner than I am, but we'll see what the future holds. Any time we have left we spend with our great dog and cat and our good family and friends.
With that said, I'm finally feeling grounded and look forward to what 2010 will bring. I've set two major goals for the year. 1. Complete a half ironman triathlon and 2. Pour the rest of my free time into real estate. Real estate is our path to financial freedom and my wife and I founded The Sunset Maple Group (http://www.sunsetmaplegroup.com/) to help carry out that mission. We know we'll be great and we can't wait to grow. Someday we'll even retire from our J-O-B's and will live the good life!
Our primary focus right now is on two type of real estate deals, wholesales and lease options. In the near future we will be looking to rehab and buy and hold . If you ever have any questions about real estate or know anyone looking to sell a property, let us know. It's incredibly interesting and we're happy to help!
On that note, I draw a close to my first entry and look forward to checking back soon. Have a great day!
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