It's End of Summer Here.

Not weather-wise, oh hell no. It'll be summer until Thanksgiving or beyond, but end of school summer vacation is racing toward us like a speeding train. School starts in a few weeks, and Girlmama the teacher is getting back to work very soon. The summer flew. A rumination on how fast time is flying lately may follow if I am ever not too depressed about the topic to ruminate on it at the keyboard. A preview: Time. Fast. Whoa. Slow down! Am I this old? This unprepared for my "golden years"? Wait, I swear I'm still 35!!!

Tomorrow we plan to do brunch. One of her "Summer Bucket List" goals was making time for brunch at Toojay's - yeah, I know, not hang gliding off a mountain or vacationing on St. Kitts, but brunch. We are definitely part of the reality based community. She has a training thing in the afternoon and I have a webinar, so I'm going to keep Miss D and hope she naps at 2. Be good for Grandma, sweetie. Grandma needs an update on the short sale and foreclosure situation.

I am delighted to report a very happy contract signing, and I owe my customer to someone who reads this blog! (I will not out you by name and will not get into identifying details, but if you want to out yourself and take a bow so I can virtually hug you all over again, please DO!)

I was contacted about helping her son maybe look for a rental, though he was thinking about buying and wasn't sure he could. So he got in touch with me and we talked briefly, and I set up a rental search and also suggested he talk to a mortgage guy I know just to see if he'd qualify, so he'd know his options. He did qualify. Then the question was bigger: Rent or Buy? He had solid reasons to buy, so I set up a search for his original search area. We started searching and saw some very nice houses in not very convenient locations, and some hot messes, and a couple that IMHO needed a bulldozer, but nothing that was just right for this buyer.

So I went outside my client's instructions and set up a search right around his office (we'd been looking south of that area) and expanded it to include new construction and townhouses, and saw something I wanted to check out. I'd never seen it either, didn't know it existed until it popped up in my search. The stuff we saw that day was uninspiring to say the least, and it was early enough that the sales office would still be open.

So I violated my own policy of having at least some slight clue about what I'm showing in advance, like having at least a vague idea about how to find it, and told them so - "We're just looking, I've never seen it, it might be a waste of time, but...."

And we all walked through going "Aaaah..." It's a spacious townhouse in a fabulous location, walk to restaurants and shopping, hop on the regional bike trail for fun, community pool, and a few traffic lights to the office.

It turned out to be The One, and the following weekend I got to meet his mom, my blog reader (hugs) who referred him, and she is delightful and liked it too, and yesterday he signed the contract, and every sale should be this much fun. Not that I'm done yet - I'll be with them on their walk through with the construction manager and help with anything else they need up until closing and beyond - but this was as sane and no drama as it gets. Smart, practical buyers who do their homework are the best - just tell me how I can help you.

This is the kind of relationship-based business I want to have. I don't want to cold call strangers and fire off scripts about "Hey, it's Insert Name Here from Insert Office Name Here! How are you today? I'm calling to ask if you know anyone interested in buying, selling or investing in real estate in the next thirty days?"

Shoot me. I don't have the bulletproof ego for that, or the endless database of friends cattle call business networking event acquaintances to annoy. I know I need to build my business, I'm not an idiot, but I want to build it with people I meet, including online, not every living soul who innocently gives me contact information.

We had a fun weekend at The Bossy Doghouse. An old friend from my Big Builder Who Must Not Be Named days came over on Saturday for pizza, and my daughter came and brought Miss D. Those of us of legal age had pizza and wine, Miss D. had a few bites of soft pizza veggie toppings and snuggles, and Murphy was so stressed that after they left he had the runs (outside, thank God) and has had them ever since. He's back on prednisolone. Let's hope Things solidify in the next couple of days. He's chipper and happy and full of spunk - and gas, and runny poop. Excitement definitely is a trigger. One of the cruel ironies of his condition is that the things he loves best - excitement and socializing - are as much a trigger as fatty food. It's good that he's a dog and doesn't really see it this way; as a human, this makes me sad for him. (He'll just party on then crap on the carpet. Can't wait until I can replace the flooring.)