Once again we were blessed with another sunny day with temps in the high 30’s and no wind. Yeah! While driving to work this morning in the dark, I happened to notice four doe deer munching on the hillside next to the cemetery and completely oblivious to the cars driving past. Yes, most of the wild beasts living in North Iowa have comfortably acclimated themselves to our City’s life. I’ve been hearing more of our residents saying they’ve also seen coyotes. I personally noticed a fox running across a large open area several days ago which whenever seeing one, always brings a smile to my face. Don’t you think they’re the most handsomest of creatures?
I managed to get all my morning office chores completed prior to my marathon showings which started at 9:30 a.m. over in Nora Springs. I arrived a little earlier at the first home just so I could do a walk-thru on it before the buyers arrived. The home is located at 914 Riverview Drive, and without a doubt, that homesite could be one heck of a show-stopper due to the breathtakingly beautiful views it has of the Shell Rock River. Of all the river and lake homes I’ve toured, that setting is the most stunning. There’s no question that if I were looking for a retirement home, I would’ve already had it under contract the day it was listed.
It’s a mid-sized two bedroom ranch with a lower-level walk-out, a single attached garage, and an open floor plan. The party-sized deck is certainly a place where guests would want to linger due to the gorgeous views it offers of the river and the woods beyond. It’s on a 1 acre parcel with a number of old-growth trees, and an easy staircase leading down to where you could walk to the river bank, and plenty of yard to plant flowers and even have a garden.
I thought for sure the buyers would jump on it, but I later discovered they’re at a point in their lives where they don’t want to go thru the hassles of making extensive interior updates which I fully understood. Be sure to check that home out online, and if you’re even the slightest interested in seeing it, please give me a call and I’ll arrange a viewing for you. It truly offers one of the best natural views of my favorite North Iowa river.
We later looked at three other area homes and then returned to one of them for a second look. I was once again vividly reminded that most homes for sale in North Iowa have been picked over to the point where there’s really not many stellar ones left. By the time I arrived back to our City, it was after 3:00 p.m. which had me caught in heavier highway traffic, and since I was already near a groceteria, I figured I might as well do a little shopping, but by the time I left, I was wishing I’d waited until later because the aisles were full of shoppers. One would’ve thought they were preparing for a holiday weekend or bracing for a blizzard.
When I got back to my office, I returned a few calls and then headed over to several financial institutions to get some banking done. Yet another noticeable change I’ve been seeing, are all the more people in the drive-thru’s, and believe it or not, both of Clear Lake Bank and Trust’s Downtown drive-thru’s were seven cars deep which was my queue to just keep on driving and wait for a better day and time. I told one of the tellers today that they’re getting slower than a ten year itch. Since she’s a new one, I don’t think she appreciated my observation. Oh well, it may have been a bit sassy on my part, but I wasn’t lying about them being slow. Don’t you think this pandemic has certainly changed the way in which commerce conducts business? As I’ve said before, I wish I had the foresight when this China-virus first broke out, and invested in companies that make plexi-glass because that would’ve been a good run-up in their stock prices.
Perhaps when this is all over, there will be more products on the market that’ll help us to remain more germ and virus free. For sure we’ll likely see more furnace attachments which kill all microbes in the air that’s being passed thru them. There’ve been such attachments marketed in the past, but with today’s technology, I’m sure they’re safer and more sophisticated. I remember selling a home not too many years ago which had one that was I believe either an infra-red or ultra-violet light which zapped all the particulates passing thru its chamber. That very home was owned by a retired HVAC technician who must’ve been impressed with it at the time, yet the “reaper” still got him.
If you happen to know anyone looking to have their own restaurant, please tell them about 1707 S. Federal Ave which is the old “Patrick’s” sports bar. The owner did a deep reduction on it yesterday to a fire-sale price of $79,500. You may think me pulling your leg when saying, “In another life, I would snap that up and create one heck of a landmark eatery.” It’s location is prime, the parking is more than ample, and the structure is solid, and all it’s needing, is a complete “re-skin” of its decor, darned-good food, and above all, pleasant wait-staff. I’m sorry to say, the bulk of clerks and wait-staff we’ve had to endure in recent years, are weak at best because they too oft-times make a person feel like they’re doing us a favor by serving. Isn’t having a pleasant smile and positive demeanor part of their job descriptions? As I said last weekend, the number of times I’ve recently been unnecessarily sassed, has been remarkable. Of course there’ve also been times when I couldn’t help myself and sassed back. As much as I do attempt to be a gentleman, there’ve been instances for me when enough was eeh-nough.
I’m in suspicion my morning is going to be busier because I have a certain “feeling” I’ll be meeting with the buyers I was showing homes today which will be just fine by me as long as I’m not late getting to my public open house, because I can’t wait for the day I’m placing a sold rider on my for sale sign at that home. I’m still working at getting it sold to several very interested buyers who’ll be fully welcomed by all of us. I’ll be a-hoping.
Tonight’s One-liner is: Let us all begin where the last persons have left off.
