I Only Get about 17 Letters a Day

A few weeks ago, someone called me from Alabama. As anyone who has ever closed a business under uncomfortable circumstances and/or had their credit spiral into the Great Abyss can tell you, the very first action one does in these circumstances is not answer their phone if they don't recognize the phone number. That goes double for me if the caller has a 205 area code these days. So when I got a call from a 205 area code a few weeks ago, that person had to leave a message. He said something like, "Hello. This is Whatevermynameis from SomesmalltowninAlabama. I work for SomethingthatsoundsremotelylikeIsellrealestate, and I want to ask you a question. Please call me back."

Now, I know all of the big real estate sales gurus everywhere say, when leaving a message for a prospect, always say something cryptic, like "I want to ask you a question." Allegedly it will pique the recipient's interest and they will be just bursting with curiosity and immediately call back. Actually it doesn't. If I didn't already get about 54 calls and 325 emails a day, had reasonable credit and wasn't closing an accidental business, I still wouldn't be the least bit curious. But that's just me and everyone else I know.

But back to this...

So, today I got a call from someone named Joe at a 205 area code. His voice sounded like he might have been the same guy who called a few weeks earlier. He said something that sounded like he sells houses for a living and he has a question for me. This time instead of just letting it hang, he added. "I have a title question about a house in Moody," and then asked me to call back.

I no longer have a house in Moody, Alabama. But at one point in my life I did.

Asking a title question under the circumstances would be a reasonable reason to talk to this gentleman. And, it even piqued my interest somewhat, but I didn't call him back. If he has questions about the title of the house, that is probably LegalOwl's department, but I don't want to pay her $300 to find out. I would think somewhere in the title paperwork filed with the county, her name would have been on there. He can pay her $300 instead of me if it is truly important.

Also Alabama has this funny one year rights of redemption policy. That is, within one year of a foreclosure, the former owner has the right to get their home back if they pay the bank what the bank says is owed on the property. By the way, the rights are transferable. As the Late Attorney Jon once explained, rights of redemption can be sold for a case of beer and fishing bait. It is possible this Joe dude could be calling to sweet talk me out of my rights of redemption. But I may never know because I am not going to answer my phone.

It stands to reason, that the best course of action for this guy, if this is a legitimate issue of some sort, would be a letter outlining his reason for calling. It might even include something I am willing to cooperate with. But not likely.