Locksmith Adventures

We've been busy....yesterday had 3 re keying jobs....I went with Alan on two of them...once was in Bloomington, Ca...with that name, you'd think it was a pretty place but no...rather run down and seedy.....the house had been built probably in the 1950s, had possibilities and a large yard. But was dirty, and worn.....with the neighborhood it was in, was not a good buy or flip....there were security bars on all the windows, and a total of 10 locks which is a lot....kinda creepy in a way although we weren't scared....

The other house was in Homeland, ca, north east of us...in a retirement mobile home park...the mobile home was in similar condition...very 70s with rust colored carpeting, very run down and shabby.....large mobile, double wide...

The third job was just to check on a house in Perris, Ca.....earlier in the year, Alan had been assigned to go and re key it..but found people still living there...the first time...he just got out of his truck and 3 pit bulls nosed their way out of the fence and ran toward him, barking and growling...he backed off and took refuge across the street at a neighbors house....one of the 3 stood by and wouldn't let him get back to the van....Alan called the sheriff but as usual, they took forever to get there....after about 20 minutes of waiting, the dogs wandered off, and he was able to make it back to the van...that was a few weeks ago....

Yesterday, we took a ball bat with us, for protection....but when we arrived, it looked like there were still people living there..two cars in the driveway and the barn door was open...the gate was wide open though and no dogs in site....after Alan's previous encounter, we decided it wasn't worth going in so called the agent.....they need to do a "lock out" and have the sheriff there.

Both of us feel badly when people lose their homes and don't push it if they aren't gone...not our job..most homes are empty when we arrive. Yesterday, a lady came to the Bloomington house and got things out of the garage....technically, we didn't have to let her in, but why not? She had baskets of clothes and personal items to remove with two little kids with her..

Most of the agents are nice too and give people extra time...our county has been really hit with the housing crisis and has one of the highest foreclosure rate of the state. Some neighborhoods have every other house empty with dead lawns....cities have required the water to stay on so the lawns can look green. Neighbors get together and do the yard work as it really hurts housing values...
our neighborhood hasn't been hit as badly as others..there are a few foreclosures but not like some.........none on our immediate street and about 3 on the street facing ours....but our housing value has gone way down.....no one wins in a foreclosure, not the homeowner or the bank....
Here is a website and a video that is fairly good about what has been going on..
http://www.lindsayfincher.com/2008/10/trashing_out_foreclosed_homes.html
The good thing is that people are doing business cleaning these places out or like us securing them.....
and yes, its still going on, despite what the news may say.....the banks have lifted their moratorium and we have been told to expect a busy month. Personally, I don't think our economy will get better until we see more sales in new homes, not just foreclosed ones.
The good news is there are plenty of great properties at low prices....

I think the scripture is so relevant today.....Phillipians 4:6-7
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

We now officially have over 130 corn stalks coming up....a little more than we intended but will be thankfully used .....corn is great frozen and I have a good little deep freeze in the garage.
Everything is really growing like crazy since it's getting warmer...today is in the high 70s. It seems that the warmer it gets, the faster the corn grows....I was told when visiting Iowa a favorite thing to do was to go out at night and hear corn growing..I am not sure if this is true or they were just kidding the California kid....