I did manage to get out of the house early enough this morning so I could finish up on the little job I started yesterday. It took me about as long as I’d expected, which gave me enough time to get back to my office and start my day in a normal fashion.
One of my appointments this morning, was a showing I had scheduled at 115 S. Connecticut which is long overdue for an offer. The viewing went very well, and to the point where I won’t be surprised if they call for a second look. With the sun shining, it couldn’t have been a better day to show off the amount of natural light entering the home thru its beautiful tall windows. I made sure to point out the very expensive thermal windows that home has, and at today’s prices, it wouldn’t surprise me if that number of windows would have an end-cost of over $40K. Good windows are very expensive, because they’re built to last. When inspecting them today, they still looked as good as likely the day they were installed.
Since the buyers are very much location conscious, I made sure to walk them down across the Meredith Willson Footbridge because they’d never crossed it before. They were very much impressed by it, just as I am whenever standing there and looking at all our natural wonders below. Yes, it’s a great area, and for sure it’ll make a welcome sanctuary for anyone into all the extras that are offered by the vintage gems which we are so blessed to have in our Historic District.
When I got back to my office, I received a call from the owners of 1740 Cerro Gordo Way, to get it listed today. Since I had time, I ran out and took the necessary photos and room measurements. When I had all the documents readied, I called the sellers to come to my office and get their home on the market. We listed it at $74,500.00 which is almost $10K below assessed value, which should create some additional interest.
It’s a mid-sized three bedroom ranch offering oodles of up-side potential because of it being a one-story home with an attached garage, and located in one of our southwest-side neighborhoods. What’s impressed me the most about it, is how well built it is, and especially the poured concrete foundation which doesn’t show even a crack.
I told the sellers that it was almost a dead-ringer to my mother’s home I sold about four years ago, which gives me the advantage of knowing what it would look like if it were properly updated. The first thing I would do, is have all the carpet and vinyl removed, and install a higher-end plank flooring which is all the more popular with today’s buyers. I would then clean all the ceilings, walls and woodwork, patch the holes, and paint.
The next thing I would do, is have a new countertop installed, get the kitchen cabinets back in shape, buy new appliances, and update the lighting. My last big attack, would be to gut the bathroom and install a step-in shower with a seat, replace the sink, remove the window, or install an eyebrow window above the shower, and replace its medicine cabinet and lighting.
My last update, would be to install laundry hook-ups in the third bedroom, just so to make it even more desirable to our older buyers, because we have to remember, the percentage of seniors living in North Iowa is rapidly growing.
Now if you’d add up all those improvements, you’d still be well under the $100K mark, which is about what similar homes are now selling for, but in this case, nearly everything would be new. I did find out today that the furnace and central air is only about seven years old which is also a plus.
What I really like about 1740 Cerro Gordo Way, is its generously-sized rear yard which is already fenced. Anyone with a dog or young children, would certainly like that as well. I personally could see a beautiful flower and vegetable gardens back there because there are no big trees having to be dealt with.
If there’s anyone you know who’s looking for everything all on one floor, please tell them about this home, because in spite of it being in need of some updates, it would be a great easy-care place to be when finished.
Having about a half hour free this afternoon, I went over to my little garden and removed the plastic quart bottles from four of my San Marzano tomato plants which were the ones that first pushed their heads out of the ground, and now about a week ahead in growth of the others. I placed a tomato wire around each of them just for now, because when reading they usually get almost like vines, I’ll have to create some better props for them. I took the above photo of one, just so you now can see, tomatoes will grow from direct sowing, but only as long as you keep ahead of the grass and weed sprouts, because you’d likely not be able to see them coming up if there’s all those other undesirable seeds sprouting.
I heard an unfortunate story today about a home that’s listed for sale, which was most recently broken into. I’d not heard if there was any damage done, other than an entry door having been compromised. Every time I’m alerted of such devilment, I internally fume because there’s absolutely no justification that can be given for doing such. In the old days, like people would be taken out and horse-whipped. Yes, there were some radical punishments given back in those times, but I think it helped to deter others from crossing lines.
Tonight’s one-liner is: It’s no use saying, “We’re doing our best.”, because in these troubling times, we’ve got to succeed in doing what is necessary.
