Bob & Dee Simmons, Volume II

                       “If I cannot fly, let me sing.”
                                                         –Steven Sondheim

                                             “I think we’d better see it.”  — Dee Simmons

 

Bellingham’s homey Toledo Hill neighborhood is a long way from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Fifty-five years away, in fact.

In case you’ve been living under a rock without wi-fi for the past month, the big news on Earth is that Bob & Dee Simmons have found a house. You’ll remember Bob & Dee as the lovable real estate hobby craft couple from Volume I of this epic. Though it has not yet closed, everything is going fabulously with their deal. So fabulously in fact, that they are attending a party at the house this weekend. The party is being hosted by

Bob & Dee Simmons volume 1

“If there is a God, give me a sign.”    Steve Martin, 1976

                                                  “I think we’d better see it.”  Bob Simmons, 2005-2013

I can’t say I remember starting to look at real estate houses with Bob & Dee Simmons. I suppose there must have been a beginning to the relationship, but it almost seems like they’ve always been part of my professional life. Like a song so old that no one alive remembers who wrote it, Bob & Dee reside in a cliental category all their own labeled “traditional.”

I’m no archivist. But I do keep a crude paper file on clients, tracking what listings I’ve shown them. Most files eventually include a purchase contract & addenda, loan documents, and if we’re really lucky– closing papers. Others are grimly filed in low drawer labeled shit. But few– in fact, no others– remain atop the in-basket year after year