Several years ago I was supposed to do a morning home inspection about 45 miles from my office. Since gas was high and the drive was long, I confirmed the inspection the evening before. I figured that they would certainly be able to confirm that the inspection was on for a mere 14 hours later.

The next morning I got everything in the car and set out during rush hour so I could get to the property on time. I got there with five minutes to spare and did some preliminary documentation. At 8:15 a.m., no one had shown up yet, but I didn't worry since they might have been fighting rush hour traffic, too.

At 8:30 a.m. still no one, so I called the Realtor. I got voice mail and left a message. 8:45 a.m. Nothing. More phone calls, to the Realtor, the Client, even the Seller's Realtor. Voice mails. Messages left. 9:00 a.m. Nothing. I decided to pack up and go hang out at one of the malls just in case............... 10:00 a.m. Nothing.

I headed back to my office 45 miles away. No calls from anyone during my drive back.

Frustrated, as most anyone would be, I prepared for my afternoon inspection, ate lunch, and took a catnap. Fast forward to that evening..............

At about 7:30 p.m., my Client calls wanting to reschedule the inspection. Well, at least he subtly admitted that they missed the inspection since he wanted to reschedule. I asked him if I had the wrong time that morning and if anyone had received my voice mails. He said yes and explained that they were in the car with their Realtor and had been involved in a car accident which sent their Realtor to the hospital. Obviously, no one was thinking about something as insubstantial (at that point) as a home inspection, and I certainly had no problems rescheduling the inspection for the next week.

So remember as you're writing your blog posts about how someone didn't return your voice mail promptly, or didn't return your email promptly, or didn't update the MLS listing promptly, things aren't always what they seem.

On that note, what do you think the following little fellow is? I found him at the San Diego Zoo late yesterday. It might be what you think it is. Or maybe not. The open mouth might tell the herpetologists among us.

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13. How do you choose a subject for your blog posts?

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