{"id":5565,"date":"2008-11-16T10:08:49","date_gmt":"2008-11-16T17:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=5565"},"modified":"2008-11-16T10:08:49","modified_gmt":"2008-11-16T17:08:49","slug":"the-house-of-atreus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/5565\/the-house-of-atreus\/","title":{"rendered":"The House of Atreus"},"content":{"rendered":"

I watch him, through the French terrace doors in the living room, as he ambles across the sidewalk and up the limestone steps of my still unsold 1.5 million dollar McMansion. He double parked his Escalade next to my X3 without bothering to put on his flashers, its mere shadow swallowing my embarrassingly sensible Bimmer. He’s wearing an Urlacher jersey, number 54, size XXL would be my guess. It’s tight. Squirrels scatter and birds empty the barren trees into the charcoal, cloudless drape that’s been hanging for a year over this soon to be expired listing. For some reason I immediately re-calculate my own net worth like I always do when this guy shows up. It only takes a few seconds.<\/p>\n

“Still got this Moose?” he asks, smiling. Our inside joke. The ‘Talking Moose,’ my unsold 6 bedroom Behemoth jammed shoulder to shoulder into a block of Chicago brick bungalows.<\/p>\n

“Last day,” I tell him. “If Jesus Christ doesn’t walk through the door in the next half hour the Builder is moving his family and all his in-laws in.”<\/p>\n

He looks at me as if to ask ‘hey, what am I, chopped…?’ <\/em>I’ve written about this guy<\/a> before, a derivatives trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He calls me Dino. He thinks I’m Greek. He knows a lot of Greeks down at the Merc, he tells me again although I’m quite certain he’s probably never read one<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“So,” I begin. “A lot has gone apeshit since the last time we spoke.” And it has. In the past month the whole world economy has been thrown off its axis. This we all know.<\/p>\n

“Body bags, dude,” he says. “Go long on body bags.” I know he’s kidding but I still ponder the notion as I imagine turning my Wachovia water into wildcat wine in one frenzied trading session. I think back over the last 500 days on this Open House assignment and wonder if he hasn’t been leaving me obtuse investment tips all along.<\/p>\n

“I’m just a sniper,” he continues. “I’m a sniper in a grassy knoll…”<\/p>\n

“Nice ride,” I say, motioning to his Escalade, changing the Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I watch him, through the French terrace doors in the living room, as he ambles across the sidewalk and up the limestone steps of my still unsold 1.5 million dollar McMansion. He double parked his Escalade next to my X3 without bothering to put on his flashers, its mere shadow swallowing my embarrassingly sensible Bimmer. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5565","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-disintermediation","7":"category-real-estate","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4799,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/4799\/the-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":5565,"position":0},"title":"The Life","author":"Geno Petro","date":"October 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I know a guy who makes stupid money. He doesn't even call it money. He calls it trump. \"I make sick trump,\" he once told me. (Stupid money.) \"I have a Hot Mess at home,\" he continued. \"And she's sick, too.\" (An attractive girlfriend with a drinking problem.) \"It's ill.\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18721,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/18721\/in-two-years-this-will-be-the-news-glut-of-unsold-houses\/","url_meta":{"origin":5565,"position":1},"title":"In two years, this will be the news: \u201cGlut of unsold\u00a0houses.\u201d","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 11, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I live in a world in sticks: Everywhere I look, I see domiciles in progress: Single-family, huge multi-family projects \u2013 and the strange hybrid of single-family apartment communities, tiny single-story houses packed cheek-by-jowl, like little Legos affixed to a concrete carpet. This is all Trump, so you know. Four or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/josh-olalde-X1P1_EDNnok-unsplash.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/josh-olalde-X1P1_EDNnok-unsplash.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/josh-olalde-X1P1_EDNnok-unsplash.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":100,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/100\/the-sky-is-always-falling-except-when-it-isnt\/","url_meta":{"origin":5565,"position":2},"title":"The sky is always falling — except when it isn’t…","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 18, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Foreclosures are up in Arizona for the first six months of 2006, as compared with the last six months of 2005. The will be cause for sustained gloating at the Arizona Republic, so here is the real news, from the Business Journal of Phoenix, before it goes through the Spin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17237,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/17237\/overnight-news-the-good-news-is-the-bad-news-wont-last-forever\/","url_meta":{"origin":5565,"position":3},"title":"Overnight News: The good news is the bad news won\u2019t last forever.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Eric Blackwell wants you to think positive \u2013 and who could blame him? We are 30 days from the election, and I predict 30 days of October Surprises \u2013 some of them planned. The worm is about to turn on the real estate news, too: Unsold listings aren't news until\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ya think it's easy?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/BHBNewTopImage-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2978,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2978\/if-90-of-the-buyers-go-away-will-90-of-realtors-go-away-as-well\/","url_meta":{"origin":5565,"position":4},"title":"If 90% of the Buyers Go Away Will 90% Of Realtors Go Away As Well?","author":"Barry Cunningham","date":"April 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Nearly 90% of consumers recently polled say they are not interested in buying a home any time soon.\u00a0 A joint poll of the Associated Press and AOL indicated that the recovery of the housing sector will not be any time soon if the retail American consumer has anything to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Supply and Demand | AP Aol Poll says real estate is in trouble","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.realestateradiousa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/kid.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2595,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2595\/choosing-second-best-could-get-you-the-best-possible-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":5565,"position":5},"title":"Choosing second-best could get you the best possible home","author":"Greg Swann","date":"February 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link): \u00a0Choosing second-best could get you the best possible home Last week we talked about how, even with so many unsold properties, multiple buyers can somehow land simultaneously on the one property on the market that approaches perfection.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5565"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5637,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5565\/revisions\/5637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}