I have solved several online woes this week. Because my life is basically online these days, what I do online has a great effect on me. But there are people who dismiss the online world in its entirety. Who did I read yesterday who said the internet was nothing but air? Oh, yeah, Ray Bradbury. Did you know he is still alive? Yup, another who is not dead yet. At age 91, Bradbury is allowing Fahrenheit 451 to go digital. There is something satisfying in that, which is also deeply disturbing.
I have a soft spot in my heart for Ray Bradbury. He taught me much as I was growing up. He taught me that if you step off the path when you go back in time and ignore those warning signs to stay on the path, you can change the future. If you step on a butterfly, you could remove all color from the world. OK, that's a bit far fetched, but you get my point. What we do in our path of life affects our future. Actions have repercussions, and before you do something, it's generally a good idea to think ahead about how that action will affect you and those around you.
It's thinking ahead as a Sacramento short sale agent that helps me tremendously in my business. I think about what can go wrong and how I can prevent those problems in the first place. I can't remove all risk but I can certainly move a transaction in the right direction. That direction is toward short sale approval.
In fact, I've been so busy lately that I had totally spaced out the fact I had bought a mousearm online. Not only did I buy a mousearm, but I paid for 2-day shipping via FedX. That was about 3 weeks ago, I realized the other day. I contacted the company and received no response. The next day, I called and left a voice mail, followed up with another email. I started thinking about the hassle that would be involved with contesting the charge on my credit card when all of a sudden I received an email to say my mousearm had shipped and they were refunding my FedX fees.
Victory.
I also got a refund for my Norton 360 on another computer that my husband had already ordered. When I set up the automatic payment, I did not realize that he buys a 3-computer license. Norton was easy to deal with. Google is not. I subscribed to Postini two years ago through Google, and I could not cancel it. I could not cancel it because I could not remember my administration password. If you lose that, you're hosed. It's not easy to contact Google. I tried. I had other people try. Nobody could penetrate the Google shield and actually talk to a real live person.
Now I know why it's a good idea that your credit card eventually expires.
You used to be able to call people. Why, you could pick up the phone and call Macy's, any department, and speak to a person, just as soon as that party line was open. You wanna know if they carry your size and color in nylons, somebody would go look on the shelf and tell you. But those days are long gone. You can't talk to people anymore. Except for a real estate agent. You can call me and ask about a Sacramento short sale, and reach a real person who knows what she is talking about. Think about that when you're reading Fahrenheit 451 on your Kindle.
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Certified HAFA Specialist
My Sacramento Real Estate Listings
Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com.
Lyon Real Estate is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan.
Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.
The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.
Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice. It could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.
Ha-ha..one short sale agent to another. Prepare for what may happen, then put one foot (or phone call) in front of the other, right???
Hi Elizabeth - Nice tie-in - I grew up with Ray Bradbury and read everything he's written - I'm glad to hear he's still with us. I had to Google mouse arm, though - had no idea what that was.
Elizabeth - another Ray Bradbury fan here! I didn't think you could get through to AOL either when I had them....but you can. You just need to use the words: relative, attorney general's office and lawsuit all in the same sentence, and, voila...a phone call from a real live person who can not only help, but give you cash.
Google....not so much.
Elizabeth, great post and suggested...I hope I do not have a need to contact Google. :)
Hi Kimberley: Well, we can't be 100% right all of the time and prevent everything horrible from happening, but we an certainly put a big ol' dent in the " possible awful event" bucket.
Hi Dick: If you're on the computer a lot, a mousearm is a pretty good idea. It helps prevent injury. If you don't think keyboard and mouse work can cause pain, you haven't worked to extremes yet.
Hi Suzanne: Yeah, Google just doesn't care. Way too big to care.
Hi Rebecca: Don't sign up for anything you can't easily cancel at Google and hang on to your passwords. That's my advice.
Hi Elizabeth, Thanks for sharing about Ray. We can all use services like these from time to time!