There couldn’t have been a better day this week to be out and about with appointments. Not to be sounding wimpy, but yesterday’s chill was enough to keep me inside for as many reasons possible. I spent most of the afternoon visiting with several sellers about their homes and both of them you’ll be seeing posted for sale later this week. I’m confident the two of them will sell in a relatively short period of time due to their condition as well as locations. It’s always good to have new listings coming on this time of year so not to miss any of the early bird pre-Spring buyers. After reading a National article regarding the real estate trends in our country, I’ll not be a bit surprised to find more factories and businesses locating here due to our cheaper housing costs. One comparison drawn about the differences in cost of living based on where one is working, was by stating a man who works as a janitor in one of the most impoverished areas of the South actually saves more than a janitor in a city like New York. Why? It’s mainly due to the sky-high costs of housing in popular metro areas. It’s no wonder why some people coming from areas as those, consider themselves in seventh heaven when looking at the prices of quality homes here in North Iowa. Unfortunately there’s too many building restrictions in metro areas which place a squeeze on keeping up with their housing demands. I fully understand the number of hurdles builders in those areas must jump to even get to a point of building permits being issued. Too many suburbs are making it tough on expansion due to the mentality of “not in our neighborhood”. Some of their fears are warranted, but most come right down to where those quaint neighborhoods want to remain just as they’ve been. I’ve heard it before with the voices of people saying, “We were here first, so stay out!” I mentioned this National problem to a colleague and the response was, “Buyers are savvy and they know what homes are worth here.” What wasn’t realized is the fact that markets in all areas change—and sometimes radically quickly. No person can even say what homes will be worth next year because values are based on a market analysis over the past 6 to 12 months, but it still cannot foretell or predict what values will be six months from now. I’ve already noticed values spiking in certain price ranges—especially with acreages. We will see what happens this year because I believe there’s going to be some eye-opening changes.
Some may think me a bit touched when speaking of things which most pay little or no attention. It’s usually those little things which on a daily basis create deep grinding annoyances. Have you ever noticed how some people have to smell their food before they taste it—no matter if they’re in a public or private setting? The leaving of toilet seats up without remembering it was down before using is interesting as well. The licking of fingers when eating in public is exceptionally annoying to me—especially when we all know what those fingers have touched before being licked. The leaving of lights on in rooms after exiting is another way of being considered wasteful. I’m sure you’ll all start thinking of many other personally annoying things others do after reading this. In closing, one of the classics is seeing how people place their toilet tissue on holders. It’s either rolling over or hanging from under. Should it be rolled over or under?
