Neither AI nor OpenAI’s management are capable of understanding irony.
Neither AI nor OpenAI’s management are capable of understanding irony.
I think there were some legitimate concerns about the potential nuclear threat as well as uncertainty regarding Russia’s actual capabilities.
Now we’ve seen that Russia’s claims don’t hold any more water than a strainer, the west should be more aggressive with its assistance. The Ukrainians have already demonstrated that they are not just going to take it laying down and they’re the only reason Russia hasn’t moved on to invading other former Soviet states. I think we owe them all assistance we can give.
Now bury a whole sit of wrenches standing straight up in a row, out in the middle of a random field and call it “art”.
You’re absolutely right. You, the client, don’t get to see what goes on the backend so it’s often impossible to know up front who is going to represent your interests and who is going to be more interested in padding their own commission. Zillow reviews are basically useless because all it means is that the reviewer liked their realtor. That’s great and all but “likeability” and quality of work are not the same thing.
There was a lot of media speculation that the recent court case and settlement with the National Association of Realtors would bring commissions down and make terms more favorable, especially for sellers.
I don’t believe that has happened at all. In fact, it’s just helped make an industry known for its opaqueness and underhanded tactics even more opaque and underhanded. As usual, it’s the client who gets the shaft.
If you want to find a good realtor, or avoid a bad one, there are a few things you can do.
Beware of realtors that aggressively push you toward certain vendors (banks, title companies, etc). If you’re looking at your third house and they’re now asking you for the fifth time if you’ve applied for a mortgage at a specific bank, that’s a red flag. Kickbacks are illegal in both banking and real estate. But some people like to treat those pesky laws like suggestions.
Beware of dual agency in general, but especially Realtors that are very persistent about it. With dual agency, the same realtor represents the buyer and the seller. It’s not a guarantee that your realtor is going to do something unethical, but let’s be real. Collecting commission from both sides in a real estate transaction is a very clear conflict of interest. But it’s a conflict of interest that is considered acceptable as long as The buyer and seller both approve. You do not have to approve. But you may have to find another realtor depending on who your initial realtor was representing first.
If a realtor has been in the business for a long time AND is willing to show you rentals, that’s actually a positive sign. Rentals pay shit. Around here if you get $300 - $400, that’s a good rental commission. As the agent you get to keep maybe half of that. Depends on what the split is with your broker. Agents who sell more can negotiate a better commission split. So the rental commission is dog shit and on top of that, landlords and property Management companies are notorious for trying to either weasel out paying the commission or they will drag their feet on it as long as possible.
As the agent, you could easily spend many many hours showing rentals and lose money doing it because rentals are not profitable for agents. Agents that are relatively new to the business will do rentals just to help build up their client portfolio. But if you get an agent who’s been in the business for a while, doesn’t try to pawn you off on another agent, and will take the time to actually show you rentals, they’re not doing it strictly for the money even if they do hope that you’ll remember them if If you ever need to buy a house.
A good realtor is worth every penny you pay them and in addition buying or selling your home will:
The problem is that a lot of realtors are good at “shaking hands and taking names” and terrible at everything else or they’re just plain unethical. Unfortunately, that’s the vast majority of realtors in my experience.
Source: wife is a realtor who tells me all kinds of “you’ll never believe the shit [other realtor] tried to pull today” stories.
I don’t think I’ve seen this meme template before. I like it
Got-dangit!
Presbyterians don’t have canonized saints but if they did, Fred Rogers would be the first on the list.
Knees are overrated.
“…Well either you are closing your eyes to a situation that you do not wish to acknowledge, or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated by the presence of a pool table disappearance of household pets in your community! Weeeellll you got trouble, my friend. I say, trouble right here in River City.”
Also trickiest step to liberating Kuwait.
A repressive regime that becomes less repressive during a global pandemic is highly suspicious. Gotta keep up appearances.
Sell your Enron stocks immediately!
My wife: “What are we doing this weekend?”
Me: “The same thing we do every weekend. Try and take over the world.”
Both of us laughing
Me: “No, seriously, I’ve got a bunch of yard work to do.”
I recently read some fluff piece predicting that Elon would be the first “trillionaire”.
You have to be morally bankrupt to be that rich.
Nah man. Jesus is cool. It’s the people selling knockoffs that you gotta watch out for.
Knew one family that had a big rear projection in their “media room”. Going to watch movies at their house was a legit event.
Forgot “Pasting it into a Word document”.
“Let’s see what happens when we give these mice food coloring.”
Twenty minutes later…
“Mother of God…”
Tarantula Hawk
Wasp equivalent of an A-10 Warthog
Captures tarantulas in a way that resembles Tony Soprano disposing of a body
Doesn’t know what the fuck you’re staring at and doesn’t really care enough to stop what it’s doing