It couldn’t have been a more pleasant day to just play catch up. I even made time to invite a dear client of mine out for breakfast. Since there’ve been a few transitions in the lives of a several people I’ve grown fond of, I’ve decided to make an extra effort to keep in contact with them. We just so happened to touch on that very subject during breakfast, and we both agreed that times are changing and it’s best we get started at re-affirming our commitments to community. As I’ve said before, “If we don’t have a solid community base to fall back on when times get tough, then we’ve not only failed ourselves, but also with those whom we hold dearest.”
One of my clients called about her house being near ready to start showing, but seemed a bit concerned that it won’t sell in a relatively short period of time. I couldn’t have been more firm by telling her it will likely sell more sooner than later simply because of how much of a shortage there is with homes in the price range of hers. We’ll see who had the most correct outlook these coming weeks.
With all these Executive Orders that are being signed on a near daily basis, I’m staying hopeful there won’t be one signed that’ll cause our real estate market to start tanking. One of my big worries is the possibility our interest rates will start climbing to where it’ll affect the buying power of first-time homebuyers. We’ve been very fortunate to have had these lower rates which enabled many buyers the ability to purchase their first homes. I’m still remembering an article I read in a business weekly several years ago where they talked about the inability to purchase homes of the millions living in our metro areas, and saying it will likely grow all the worse as time passes. It’s a bit reminiscent of what took place during the Great Depression.
Every week or two, my dear friend from down South gives me a ring. She called today and the bulk of our conversation centered around what we believed to be the greatest evil in the world which is fear. I reminded her that it was fear that drove the German people to commit crimes they likely never would’ve considered imaginable had it not been for Adolph Hitler feeding their fears on a daily basis with his most convincing oratoricals. There always as to be a scapegoat which is used to feed those all consuming flames of evil born out of fear. With Hitler it was the Jews. Looking at the fear driven evils taking place in our world right now, we can see they’re centered around religious differences, tribal differences, and political differences. That’s all it takes is a firebrand with a convincing voice to light a match that’ll feed the flames of indifference and hatred.
The absolute highlight of my day was having an opportunity to visit a farm not far from here. Seeing it at a distance from about a half mile away, I was already starting to fall in “like” with it. The home was possibly built in the 1880’s, but to my surprise the woodwork had never been painted. The outbuildings were noticeably distanced from each other to where they each created a visual statement upon the landscape. My real state of “want” kicked in when I walked into the barn and then up into the hayloft. Some of the most pleasant memories came rushing back into my thoughts of the days when I was young and playing amongst those aromatic bales of hay. While driving away I thought, “This was the closest I’ve been to where I felt as if I were standing at the end of the earth where reality meets fantasy.
