It looks like the real estate market here in Mason City is off and running this week, and by the amount of activity I’ve had today, I’d say it’s going to continue on through the week. I’m just glad the temps are above freezing when having to be out showing properties. I must say it has been a bit on the muddy side. I hope there aren’t that many people noticing me dodge mud puddles and icy walks and driveways. When it’s melting like this, the ice is really slippery to where it feels like one’s walking on greased glass.
A visitor from one of the southern States mentioned how he wasn’t used to such icy walking areas and almost fell several times just trying to get from a parking lot to a building. I told him one must be vigilant in watching the terrain. Last week I almost took a spill in the back alley because of the ice. Fortunately I caught myself from a complete fall. He said, “Don’t they have heated sidewalks and driveways here?” “Not any that I know of off hand.” I said. The cost of installation as well as the amount of electricity needed has most likely kept even the wealthiest from having them installed.
I showed a condominium today which seemed to be in line with what the buyer has been looking for, but there are always those extra questions and concerns being raised after viewings. The first and foremost question is how much the association dues are. Another concern of potential condo buyers is who’s living on the other side of the shared walls. Yet another asked is whether pets are allowed. I’m finding it more frequent in recent years, buyers steering away from condos that don’t allow pets. I can fully understand why because as older people find themselves more homebound and alone, they are more in need of companionship. Dogs and cats help to fill those voids. I’ve heard it often with people saying they don’t know what they’d do if they didn’t have their dogs or cats to keep them company. I had to laugh several days ago in talking to a prospective tenant who grew up on a farm. He said, “I want to have a dog, but I’ll not have it in the house unless the weather is really bad.” I laughed and said, “You brought back memories of my life on the farm.” I went on to say how my mother was very strict about not allowing dogs or cats in the house unless the weather was minus 30 degrees and only would they be allowed in the back entry. He really got a belly laugh when I said, “I think she had an unspoken standard that if an animal had more hair on it than she, then it wasn’t getting inside.” She never fully knew at the time how possessed my sister was about kitties. She had a clever way of hiding them under her coat when walking in our home. She’d casually retire to her bedroom, and since my room was on the other side, I’d sometimes hear a cat’s meow. Naughty me would call after my mother and say, “She’s got a pussy in her bedroom again!” Sometime I must ask my sister if she remembers her cat hauling days. I smile to myself now when remembering my mother scolding her and saying, “They’re not to be inside! You turn your back on them and they’re up on the kitchen counter licking out of the butter dish!”
It’s unfortunate how many remember only the trying times of their youth, when they should be recalling more of those laughable events like seeing pussy whiskers in the butter dish.
