Snow

Winter Storm(s) Real Estate

by mattwroughtonrealtor

Wintertime is a tough time for most industries.   I can’t even imagine the difficulties of being on a road construction crew during this time of year.  Real Estate is not as tough as that, maybe, but it sure has some hard times.  Think about it, preparing to hold and holding an Open House when a snow storm is sweeping through town.  That happened to me, not once, but twice.  The first storm actually brought some snow, approximately 9 inches.  I ended up cancelling my Open House that weekend.  Luckily, I had picked up my directional signs and got home right as the snow started to fall on the Friday.  This past weekend, I decided not even to bother scheduling one, as it was supposed to be super frigid with a good chance of ice — it just rained.  Trying to maintain your normal weekly schedule for your business through the tough days of winter are a challenge.

Snow Storm Gia, #1.  This was a storm that impacted much of the country.  The only impact to me was at home in St. Louis.  On Sunday or Monday, before the storm, I had planned on holding an Open House the following Saturday.  Within the next day or two I had placed all my directional signs, put up the Open House rider, and advertised the Open House all over my Facebook page, and then it happened; a major snow storm was on the forecast.  I was, honestly, pissed off.  I was looking forward to this Open House; I was supposed to have someone shadow me on this one, which I took as a challenge to be better.  The predictions kept getting worse and worse, but since I’ve grown up in St. Louis, I understand this prediction of 8-12” of snow could just as easily be a light dusting of snow.  I waited as long as I could before I eventually cancelled the Open House, as I didn’t want to be out driving in the snowstorm if I didn’t have to.  My car does not handle the show very well.  I was actually happy that there was significant snowfall.  I would have been more upset if the snow ended up missing us after I officially cancelled the Open House.  You can read about what I did that weekend on the previous blog post, beware, you will feel worn out just by reading it.

Snow Storm Harper, #2.  This was another storm that was supposed to impact St. Louis.  It wasn’t supposed to drop a lot of snow on the city, but originally it was supposed to have the daily high temperature in the single digits, which would have been brutal.  It was still supposed to snow up to 4”, which would have caused enough issues.  I was watching the forecast like a hawk, deciding whether or not to attempt to hold an Open House last weekend.  I did not.  It wasn’t until Thursday or Friday that the forecast called for a slightly warmer temperature and basically just rain.  I felt that it was too late to properly market an Open House and to put out the directional signs, so I started to market an Open House for this coming weekend.  I noticed that there were a lot of people who went and viewed the house, which was obviously great.  That is what you want when you have a listing, the more people who view it, the better the chances of finding the buyer.  Although this storm wasn’t too bad on Saturday, it did decide to snow Sunday afternoon which was a pain for me.  Attempting to drive home from playing Kickball, my car couldn’t make it up a hill, the road was super slick.  I ended up having to turn around and go a different way to avoid the snowy roads.  It might have snowed an inch, but the roads weren’t treated so they were a little hazardous. 

When I got into the real estate business, I never thought about the challenges of trying to work through snow storms.  Now I’m wondering how I am going to put out directional signs when the ground is frozen.  I guess I’ll find that out when I get to it.  I’m sure I’ll think of something.  As much as I enjoy the cold and snowy weather, I am definitely ready for Spring.  More people are looking for houses or wanting to sell their house then.  I hope you all stay warm and if you feel like daring the weather, let’s go see some houses.

Fun in a Winter Wonderland

by mattwroughtonrealtor

I’m sorry that this post is a little later than usual.  I didn’t have any time during the weekend to write it.  As you’ll see, this one isn’t much about being a REALTOR, but I think you’ll see why.   If you are not from St. Louis, MO, we had a HUGE snow storm.  It first started to snow around 2:00 PM on Friday and did not slow down until Saturday night.  There were a few moments of rain and a wintery mix during Saturday.  It was so beautiful.  There were many accidents, cars left on the side of roads, and hot chocolate. 

Thursday, we were smart and went to the hardware store to get some home improvement supplies, mostly so I would have something to do on Saturday when we were snowed in.  We also ordered a new replacement window.  So, we were a little productive then. 

Friday, I went into the office and did as much work as I could before the weather came in.  I was planning on holding an Open House on Saturday but decided against it due to the weather; my car does not drive well in the snow.  Once I made that decision I had to go around and pick up my directional signs and the rider out of the house sign.  I got home right as it started to sleet.  I immediately ordered pizza and it delivered within 20-30 minutes.  Oh, how I love Imo’s Pizza.  After I ate my lunch, I went upstairs to work on hanging crown molding.  The first hiccup was that I had to dig the saw out of the pile of tools, move it up to the third floor, and set it all up.  The second hiccup came shortly after.  I still have all my fingers and didn’t bleed, well not at that point.  I plugged in the saw and attempted to cut a board and the fuse blew.  I had to walk from the third floor down to the basement to flip the breaker back to on.  This process repeated itself once more before I wised up and had to move everything back down to the second floor.  My legs were so tired.  I eventually figured out how to cut the boards correctly and hung all the trim for one room.  I was planning on doing the rest on Saturday.  Later in the night when the snow had accumulated enough, we went outside and played with our dog in the snow.  I was chasing him around and of course I slipped and got covered by snow, and then he decided to jump on me; it was great.  There is a video of right before I fell on my social media accounts.

Saturday, I woke up and knew that I needed to go out and shovel the sidewalk, what a workout.  I was planning on going upstairs to continue working on hanging the crown molding.  Instead my girlfriend, Ruby, and I took the dog, Louie, for a long walk up into town.  We don’t usually go for this long of a walk, and it was rough with 9” of snow on the ground.  We were going up to the local small hardware store to buy some sleds; of course, they were sold out.  We learned that nearly everywhere was sold out of sleds, either that morning or on the days leading up to the storm.  We never found any.  We settled for a Christmas Tree tray.  It didn’t work very well.  While out looking for sleds, we also went by the grocery store; we needed to eat something before we went sledding and afterwards.  We forgot to go before the storm hit.  When we were done with everything, we went by our house to change, and drop off the groceries.  Then onto Art Hill.  With me being a St. Louis native, you’d think that I would have sledded there at least once before — not the case.  It was a lot of fun, except the walking back up the hill part.  Again, my legs were dead.  Luckily for us, our friends brought other sleds that worked better, and let us use them.  We stopped sledding right before it started to rain a little and went to a local bar to watch football and eat some food.  I had a Chili Cheese Burger, and it was pretty tasty.  After we were done eating, we all went our separate ways to shower and change, I had to resist taking a nap.  Then we all went to a friend’s house and played some games.  It was a fun day.  I did fail to get back to hanging crown molding though, I guess I’ll have to do that today now.

Sunday was truly crazy.  Woke up early so I could eat some breakfast, I guess Ramen noodles count as breakfast some days.  Then went to go play some kickball.  I ended up playing four games of kickball which truly wore me out, I still am sore on Monday.  I chose to take my firepit, EZ-Up tent, speaker, and a cooler of beer; no, the cooler wasn’t needed to keep the beer cold, but it was easier to carry.  Playing kickball in 8” or so of snow was really fun, and really sloppy.  I was in heaven.  Although I truly enjoyed playing in the snow, I don’t want to play in that deep of snow again, but I will, given the chance.  The one downside of playing kickball in all the snow was that my feet were so wet and so cold.  I kept them warm as long as I could.  I feel that they were nearly frozen when I was through playing but I still had to pack up everything that I had brought, I hope I didn’t forget anything.  Shockingly, this is when I cut myself and bled.  Closing up my EZ-Up tent I pinched the side of my finger and it decided to bleed pretty good.  I didn’t care, because my feet were so cold, and I wanted to go home. 

Again, I don’t know where you are, but I hope you get the chance to have a fun filled snowy weekend.  From playing with your dog in the snow, going sledding, or even playing kickball, it’s always great to find something fun to do when you feel like you should be stuck in the house watching tv and drinking hot chocolate.  I know I had a fun and eventful weekend and I couldn’t even begin to tell you how sore I am as I am writing this post; everything hurts.  I’m trying to talk myself into going to the gym later, I doubt I’ll make it.  Please leave me comments on how your weekend was or any topic that you would like me to explore.  Have a great day and let’s go see some houses.