The first and foremost thing I had to do today, was to stop at one of my listings and do my own final walk-thru on it, then get to the office and grab my closing file, and head out to a bank for its closing.
Since we’re now seeing all the more in our mobile society moving in and out of our City, the sellers had already arrived in the Des Moines area late last night so they could be at the closing of their new home, and the reason for their moving was a job advancement.
Whenever we have situations like this, all the transfer docs have to be signed and notarized along with sellers’ affidavits and limited power of attorneys a day or two beforehand. The closing went well, and shortly afterwards, the buyers’ net proceeds were wire transferred to their closing company in Des Moines.
Over these recent years, we’ve been seeing all the more transactions like this taking place where young couples move here from out of town, stay for maybe four or five years, and then move onward, upward, and out of North Iowa with their careers. The sad part about it is, we don’t get enough young ones having an incentive to stay here which disturbs me.
My take on these puddle-jumps, isn’t that all the many of those professionals don’t like it here, but rather there being no societal glue strong enough to keep them from being enticed to move elsewhere. So what are we not doing in our community to keep them here?
After standing back far enough from the picture, I see too much tribalism within our City to where you’re either “in” or “out” and that’s that. Just today I chided someone’s company for being purveyors of kitchen-clatter gossip and politically stilted opinions. I even reminded that person that I grind no axe for anyone because I’ve learned over the years that what goes around will come around, and for sure, either divine justice and/or karma will in the end, settle the score.
This afternoon I met with the sweetest little senior lady to talk about the sale of her home. It was quite an interesting conversation because we both shared stories about recent deaths in our families, along with how we managed to cope with them. It’s interesting how the thread of grief affects our metaphysical fibers. Believe me, we did not whine or pine over our losses, but rather the whole learning process we’ve had to endure.
What I found comforting, was the business of not wanting others to see us cry because of how embarrassing it is in public. I smiled and said, “I have absolutely nothing against crying, but personally, I’d rather have my own quiet little corner to do it.
She insisted on showing me something that belonged to her mother, and when she opened its box, out she pulled an exceptionally old porcelain doll fully dressed in its original clothes. I was in shock to see it in near perfect condition because there’s no question it was at least 100 years old. She said it was her mother’s and plans on keeping it as a remembrance of her. I’ve seen a great many vintage dolls, but not one that old in such good condition.
Late this afternoon I had another showing on a home to a young couple I’ve been working with these past months. They wanted their parents to look at it before they’d make a decision on the biggest investment of their lives to date. I believe the showing went well, and now that’s all I can do is wait to see if they’re going to pull the trigger and buy it.
While showing it to their parents, I made sure to point out that it’s not a lipsticked pig, but rather a sold older home that needs nothing more than cosmetic upgrades because all the big ticket items have already been done. I’m hoping their parents drill those facts into them because far too often, the younger ones look only at eye-candied surfaces.
I was surprised to find it sprinkling rain today which was a par for the course since I just had my car washed yesterday. I’m hoping it’ll be a beautiful day tomorrow for my public open house at 415 – 1st St. SE here in Mason City. There sure has been a number of showings on it these past several days which gives me hope it’ll be sold more sooner than later.
Tonight’s one-liner is: The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.
