It looks like starting tomorrow, we’re going to be on a roller-coaster ride with this weather when hearing it’s going to be well below zero tonight, cold tomorrow, and then followed by an all-day snowstorm that’s supposed to drop up to nine inches on us.
But on the positive side, we have only three months before the 15th of April arrives. Yes, Spring may possibly be around the corner as long as we don’t have an extended winter like last year. It was a definite transition from winter to summer with no Spring between.
Not much was happening in the world of real estate today other than getting yesterday’s sale information sent over to a title attorney’s office for review, and then having to go over to Good Shepherd and visit with the powers that be about the continued activity on the remaining units for sale over at Prairie Place on 1st. I’ve scheduled another public open house for those units the last Sunday of this month. Just this morning, I visited with another prospective buyer regarding one of them, and hopefully I’ll be getting a call to view it.
I phoned another real estate office for a showing on a cheap listing in a questionable neighborhood, and was a bit shocked to hear it’s now under contract. I’d say the pickings are getting slim when seeing homes like that one having sold. I also called on a “cracker box” home which another buyer wants to see later this week, and that one is also under contract. I’m actually glad it is, because the listing agent was using a “fish eye” lens when taking the photos of it which made its galley kitchen look like a football field. Irregardless what anyone says, I believe the posting of those photos are well into the realm of mis-representation. Just remember all the ads for food and merchandise we’ve seen where they’ll print something like, “The size pictured is not actual.” Those agents have no idea how much of my time they’ve wasted, because some of my buyers fall for their fish-eyed photos.
While on the phone with a colleague of mine today, the subject of dirty windows came up, and soon discovered how annoying I find dirty windows on homes that are for sale. For sure, if I were a homeowner, I’d have them near spotlessly clean because of how they help to present a given home in a better light. Of course I had to share my pet peeve regarding the looking out of dirty windows. Whatever happened to the old standard of washing our windows twice a year? Believe it or not, the front windows of my office get washed every two weeks.
I was reminded of this window business while driving home yesterday evening when seeing a one story home with all its lights on and no window coverings, and without a doubt, I could see from a half-block away how dirty they were, and to think one of the owners works in healthcare. One couldn’t help wondering how dirty everything else would be in their home when seeing how bad their windows looked. I’d be terribly embarrassed if I were them. I think they purchased that home about three or four years ago, and I’ll wager they’ve never been washed before or after they moved in. Their parents must’ve left out the chapter about cleanliness while preparing them for adulthood. I understand how most tenants dismiss the cleaning of their windows, but not supposedly proud homeowners.
I have an appointment tomorrow to meet with the owner of a home I have listed so we can get the price on it reduced. Unfortunately, it came on the market later in the year, and missed the buying frenzy that was taking place. It’s a good reduction, so hopefully, it’ll spur some real interest.
I’ve recently been paying more attention to the many different structural designs of homes built in our City prior to 1900, and finding it all the more interesting when seeing much of their original design and appeal having been altered by either additions, siding, windows, and exterior colors.
When visiting with a gentleman about a particular home that’s on the market, he wondered why it hadn’t yet sold, and then asked what I thought of its interior. I went on to tell him that over the years, there were several additions made to it, along with some original doorways having been closed off, and then other walls opened. I felt one of the reasons it’s still on the market, is because the original “flow” of its floor plan was altered to the point that it no longer possessed balance. To me, the home seemed as though there were two homes of different styles fused together to make it what it is today. I’m sure those that’ve looked at it, have walked away sensing something being wrong, but unable to put their fingers on what it was, because they were too busy looking at colors, room sizes, and updates, instead of focusing on functionality, design, and “feel”.
It’s going to be a cold one tonight, so grab a hot bowl of chicken soup and get yourselves warmed.
Tonight’s one-liner is: In our leisure, we reveal what kind of people we really are.
