We certainly had a change in weather all of a sudden late this afternoon. While waiting for clients to arrive, I noticed some pretty scary storm clouds moving in from the north, and in noticing the speed of them, I knew were were going to get pounded. What I fear the most now is flash flooding. For a while there, the rain was coming down in sheets to where the streets were covered with water. When rain falls so quickly in such great amounts, the storm sewers cannot handle it. Many times these fast moving storms dump quickly and don’t stay very long. Let’s hope that’s what’ll happen.
Most of my afternoon was spent showing homes in the under 80K range and nearly all of them were a big disappointment to my buyers. As I’ve said before, I truly wish the government and corporate owned properties would stop entering our market. They create a negative pull-down on our values along with creating more properties for the rental barons to purchase. It’s sad to see we’re still experiencing the after-effects of the 2007-2008 market crash. I’ll continue to believe there are people in North Iowa who should be buying, while there being others who shouldn’t. It’s all about getting the general public educated about home ownership before they even think about buying.
I truly respect and admire buyers who’ll set their own personal limits on how much they spend on a home before they get pulled into something emotional and later regret it. This brings me to the next point I’d like to make regarding new homeowners. A great many of them don’t consider on-going maintenance and repairs. I don’t want to even think about how many times I’ve noticed how a very well kept home was sold and but a year or two later I see gutters sagging due to them being filled with rotting leaves, storm doors no longer latching properly, window screens torn, and extensions of downspouts missing. These maintenance items don’t happen over-night, but rather build up over months and years to where the integrity of a home’s structure becomes compromised. Every time I sell a home that’s been well kept and maintenance free, I tell the buyers, “You take good care of your new home and it will take good care of you.” I continue to hope each and every one of them will listen to my words and act accordingly. Just remember the old saying, “A stitch in time saves nine.”
While waiting for an appointment today I clicked on MSN News and skipped past the headlines and happened to find one that said, “Sixth Extinction”. I read it quickly and was filled with memories of the scholarly book I read, “Man’s Greatest Fear.” I’m deeply concerned about what our natural world will look like in say 20 years if we don’t work harder at protecting our oceans. We all know the ocean is where all life began, and if we loose that natural balance, we’ll all be hurting in a big way. Click on the following link of you haven’t already read the article. It’s not just about us, but also our children.
