The Life of Kevin Hauge

At gas stations that is.

I noticed this morning that my front tire was a little low on air so I drove over to one of the gas stations along the way to work. My first stop was SuperAmerica and pulled up to the pump only to see a sign notifying me of the $.75 charge for air? Given that all the gas stations around my previous home were free, I decided to drive a block down to the Holiday station to check that out. Sure enough, air wasn’t free there either, but at least cheaper at $.50.

Since I didn’t want to drive that distance with a low tire nor did I want to be late to work, I dug through my change compartment to find two quarters to buy some air. I’m pretty sure this isn’t “premium” air or anything … just a way for the stations to make some extra money off their customer’s misfortune.

Personally I find it a bit sad to charge for air … and up to $.75 at that. What’s next? Charging for the use of the window squeegee?

Looking at the television show selection these days you would never guess that we are currently in one of the worst housing markets in years. TLC and A&E pack their line-up with shows like: Property Ladder, Flip This House and Flip That House which follow a single flipper during their quest for “quick cash” in the housing market. They buy a cheap (read run-down, outdated and falling apart) house, set a budget to renovate and give themselves a timeline to finish it all before putting it on the market to sell for a huge profit! Sounds like a great idea right?

Not in this slouching housing market!

Yet these shows are abundant and apparently people are believing they can follow in the same footsteps (even though many of those footsteps are headed over a very tall cliff). Many of the flippers are “new” to house flipping and find out the hard way that budgets, contractors and knowing your audience are vital for success. These flaws make for great TV, but surely can’t be encouraging the wanna-be-flipper to try it for themselves, would it?

I’m actually starting to wonder.

When you watch these cocky flippers on TV, making mistake after mistake, you start to think how differently you would handle it. You would surely get a home inspection before buying the property. No way you would leave your contractors on the job site by themselves while you went to play golf. And you surely wouldn’t budget $300 for an entirely new set of kitchen cabinets! You’re smarter than all of these flippers … and that’s the problem.

These shows don’t glorify house flipping to make you believe it’s a quick and easy path to riches, instead they rely on reverse psychology to draw you in. The hosts will tell you that there are major risks and that flipping is not for everyone, but at the same time show you a successful transaction for the last person in the world that should be flipping a house. If that dolt can do it … why can’t I?

Being the handyman that I am, I’ve considered being one of those dolts in the past … but now that I have my own house to work on, those urges to renovate will be better spent on fixing up my own home. Not to flip mind you, but to live in and enjoy. The housing market has no control over those results.

Since it made national news (and even had the President fly out) I’m sure everyone has heard about the I-35W bridge collapse over the Mississippi River on August 1st. Being a Minnesotan it obviously hit close to home.

Given that I was in the process of moving into my new house (in the south of the cities, not the north) I was oblivious to what was going on. It was only when my friend John (who was helping me move) received a phone call from his family making sure he wasn’t crossing the bridge at the time. All of my family is located on the south or east side except for my sister (who was at home at the time, so wasn’t affected). Given that I was just moving in, there was no TV that I could flip on to see what was going on. At first I thought it was just a section that fell, but after driving to my parents house, I was able to see the actual chaos.

The urge (for me at least) was to drive out there and see if I could help, but even outside police / fire personel were being turned away at the scene because they had enough help from the surrounding communities. My other urge was to pack up my camera and take some photos of the scene, but I wouldn’t want to interfere with the on-going recovery operation either.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families affected and those who lost loved ones in the I-35W tragedy.