It certainly turned out to be a beautiful day after all. People have been telling me that we have a chance of rain these next several days, and I do hope whomever they heard it from, is completely wrong because this is the weekend we Realtors have our annual “Open House Weekend”. I’m sure you’ve been noticing all the more open house signs around town these past several days.
The public open house I’ve chosen for this weekend is at 341 S. Carolina which I believe is long over-due to have a “sold” sign posted in its front yard. Yes, the nasty weather we’ve had since I listed it wasn’t the least bit helpful, so now that winter is behind us, buyers will see what a great home it is–especially being located in one of my favorite neighborhoods. I will say that everyone I’ve ever sold a home to in that particular district, has loved living there, which is why there’s not that much turn-over of homes in River Heights. Almost always the reason for someone selling is either a death, moving out of town, or bumping up to bigger and newer.
I had to make a quick trip over to Garner on an appointment this afternoon which gave me an opportunity to see the countryside. It looks like the fields are finally starting to dry out. I believe the reason we had so much puddling, was the fact that the frost hadn’t gone out of the ground. One of the contractors who does excavating told me that even though we had a heavy snow cover, he’d never seen frost traveling so deep in some areas.
Well, as I predicted, 907 N. Jefferson already has an accepted offer on it which came as no surprise considering all the bells and whistles it offers. I’d give my eye teeth for its over-sized triple garage out back. It would be nice if our office had about a dozen more homes listed just like it because I think all of them would be sold more sooner than later. I’m sure that young couple is going to enjoy living there for many years to come.
After looking at my bill for some pressure treated lumber I purchased yesterday, it pretty much confirmed my suspicion regarding the reasons why so many people do not keep their home repairs up to par. That pile of boards wasn’t anything special, yet all the more expensive from about four years ago. I can already see in my mind, those many buyers who purchased way out of their ranges and now faced with normal repairs that come with homeownership, and now trying to figure out how they can pay for them.
These past years I’ve witnessed so many more young couples buying their “first home” in the $250K – 300K range. I have no clue what’s prompting them to bury themselves in such debt when knowing North Iowa is not a Mecca for high-paying jobs with promising upward advancements. I’d recently heard that even the medical field is coming under pressure to install more cost-saving technology to where there’ll be all the fewer “bodies” filling those jobs. You can be sure that if there’s a task that can be computerized, our corporations are quick to have them purchased, and then up and running so to reduce the body counts of their payrolls and retirement plans. I’m waiting to see what changes are going to be made now that Mercy has come under new corporate ownership.
Later this afternoon, I went out to preview a home that should sell considering it’ll be in move-in condition once the owners have their finishing touches completed. If they list it in the range I suggested, I’m confident there’ll be some action on it only because of where it’s located. As we all know, location is exceptionally important when marketing homes in our City because most of our “native” buyers know where they want to live.
With the grass growing greener and the temps rising, I’m getting all the more of an itch to get those geraniums planted, but I have to be patient because I don’t want them being nipped by a late frost. It’ll be interesting to see all those various colorful blooms contained in but one flowerbed. The ones I like the most are those of a deep red which border on florescence. I smile to myself when remembering I picked up the “mother” plant about four years ago that was left to freeze out in a back alley. I felt so sorry that I had to circle the block and go pick her up. I’m convinced she must’ve been psychically screaming at me, “Please! Save me from the freeze!”
The photo above is the single flower the potted Hoya in my office offered up to me this past summer. She too was left out to freeze in the back yard of an estate home I had listed about five years ago. If her offering up to me but one flower of thanks, was good enough for me.
Tonight’s one-liner is: A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.
