It sure was a beautiful day in North Iowa, and hopefully everyone being able, is out enjoying it because exactly six months from now, it’s going to be Christmas Day. I’m sure that’s giving you a warm and fuzzy feeling right now, isn’t it? The reason I mention it at this time, is for it to be our reminder that seasons change more quickly than we sometimes realize, which should be our incentive to live each and every day to its fullest, and not be sitting around thinking time stands still.
Now that everything is signed-off, 115 S. Connecticut is officially back on the market. There’s no question in my mind, when the current tenants have moved out, and the owner gets it back in showable condition, it will sell. That sale having fallen thru, is likely going to be blessing in disguise, because I’ve always envisioned a young professional family with children creating years of cherished memories on that site, due it having four generous sized bedrooms, two and a half baths, and more than enough room to create sacred spaces for little curious minds. There happens to be one family I’ve just started working with who have three children, and once it’s cleaned up and readied, I’ll be giving them a call to take a peek.
Part of my morning was getting in touch will the respective parties regarding where they’ll need to be for their closings, and the times they’re to be there. Staying ahead of it all is the name of the game as far as I’m concerned. Both sellers have already moved out, so there shouldn’t be any last minute carryouts which I’ve always disliked. Too many times I’ve been involved with final inspections before closing where the owners are still loading their moving trucks. I usually always tell my sellers, “Get your truck loaded the night before, just so everything is out before the buyers arrive the next morning for their walk thru.” It can be frustrating as well as embarrassing for both sides of a transaction.
I’ll never forget what two supposed “professional” exiting sellers had done some months ago, where they actually left various packages of food in the refrigerator and kitchen cupboards, along with other useless personal items. It was a miracle I managed to walk thru it before the buyers arrived because they would’ve been furious. Thank goodness I usually have extra garbage bags on hand for such happenings.
I can honestly say that I’m not a sexist because some women can be just as filthy as their male counterparts when it comes to the daily upkeep of their homes and apartments. Just recently I was reminded that when a male or female talks about how super-clean they are, it oft times ends up being just the opposite. Not too many years ago a new tenant insisted how he was so “anal” about the care of every home or apartment he’d lived in, but the real truth showed itself when seeing how filthy he really was. Even the burner covers on that once spanking-clean stove had to be thrown away and new ones purchased, and the oven looked like he never used a pizza pan or baking dish because the racks and the bottom of the oven was caked with burned on crud. I’m beginning to believe far too many of the adults living in North Iowa were raised by wolves.
Having a few hours free this afternoon, I changed my clothes, and proceeded to turn myself into a window washer. I did find that muriatic acid, and glad I did because those windows were beyond filthy. I would’ve had them all cleaned, but unfortunately I had to spend a great deal more time scraping off all the paint drips and over-brushes on their panes. Old paint can be the darnedest to get off, but luckily I had more than enough new razor blades to replace the ones I’d dulled. I’ll never understand as long as I live the reason why painters don’t take wet rags and clean up their drips and brush marks while their paint is still wet. Oh well, I’ll have to see if I can find some free time tomorrow to get them finished up.
Several days ago when I was out visiting with some sellers about their home, I couldn’t help noticing their two small children who couldn’t have been more than three and four years old, paying absolutely not attention to the world around them because they were both deeply concentrating on their little games provided by their hand-held computers.
While I was driving back to my office, I couldn’t help wondering what the youth of today are going to be like when they’re adults. I’m afraid they’ll be similar to automatons and very much lacking in realtime social skills, because I’m already seeing it in the young adults aged 18 – 21+ years old. I believe I recently spoke about a conversation I had with a young man in his early twenties at my office, and in a bit of shock how he continuously struggled for words. Yes, the computers are making all the more inroads into the lives of our young.
I wasn’t a bit surprised when reading that some of the States in the Northeast are making people coming from other States that are still having spiking numbers of the China-virus, to quarantine themselves for 14 days, just so they’ll not be adding to their own numbers. I hope that strain they discovered in northern China doesn’t make it to our shores, because that one is asymptomatic for twice the number of days, which makes it more easily spread among families.
I stopped at Hy-Vee Drug before I headed home, just to see what plants they had on sale. While there, I struck up a conversation with the woman tending to them. I mentioned how certain flowers such as petunias, no longer have the wonderful scent the old ones had. She went on to say that it’s true, and due to the hybridization of not only the petunias, but also the roses and lilacs. We both agreed that those old faithfuls were too quickly pushed aside for the newer and “better” varieties. I’m ever thankful for having some of the old lilacs and roses which continue offering their vintage scents.
Tonight’s one-liner is: Familiarity with evil, breeds not contempt, but acceptance.
