Your friend might be nice, but he's still a kook

Yes, that was our day yesterday, more or less. I wasn't feeling well yesterday so I stayed home from work. I was dozing off on the couch when our landlord, "Al" (names changed to protect the clueless) came by.

Al is...different. He's a nice guy, and he charges below-market rent for this place, so that's two points in his favor there. But I really don't want to know him more than just our business relationship. I just want to write the rent check, call him when there's something that needs to be fixed, and that's about it. The problem is, Al found out about the house debacle and has now started coming by a lot more, offering all manner of advice. And this is a problem because---guess what---Rob and I have been through all of the scenarios and we're really not in the mood to be told, "Here's what you should have done." Or the really helpful, "You know, your broker screwed up." Um, you think? Really?

(And no, if I'd had my way, Al wouldn't have found out we were moving until the day we closed escrow, at which point we would have turned in our notice. But the universe didn't work my way there either. :-P)

Anyway, Al's latest bit of "helpful" info (and yes, I know the guy means well, but still...) was this. He has a "friend." (Cue Don Corleone saying, "I know a guy....") His "friend" knows "all there is about first-time homebuyers' programs. (Where have we heard this one before? Oh, yeah, the broker who messed us over said nearly the same thing. Pull me once....) And we should "really check out his website." Yadda, yadda.

Well, we did. His friend is a kook, somewhere to the east of Michael Savage and the west of reality. So yeah, I think we'll be taking a pass there. Unfortunately, that leaves Rob with the unwelcome task of having to dodge Al's questions (since he's home during the day) but that's life. Maybe he can just not answer the door....:-)