I can certainly tell the days are getting shorter when finding myself driving to office in the dark at my normal time. I was surprised again when seeing our Downtown temps having risen to almost 85 degrees today. I’m sure much of this unusual heat is being pushed up from the Gulf States as a spill-over from their tropical storm. It sounds like we’ll be getting more rain tomorrow evening, but let’s hope it’ll be a light rain instead of a raging thunderstorm.
My first out of office appointment today, was to take a drive to a small town to look at a home one of my clients is planning on selling in the near future. When I pulled up, I could tell he’d been starting to get some exterior landscape manicuring done, but after doing my full walk-thru, I sat down and had a nice long chat regarding the process of preparing his home for today’s market. Fortunately he didn’t spin out of control like some do when I start naming off the things needing to be done. He got his laundry list of “to do’s” which will likely take him a good month to accomplish. Knowing how today’s buyers react to home showings, I was bordering on being blunt regarding what’s needed to get a home sold for the best price in the shortest marketing time. Hopefully I’ll be hearing from him before the cold arrives.
While visiting with him, I pointed out some of my own listings which are fairly priced, but we’re still not getting offers on them because they’ve not been tricked-out for the eyes of our young buyers. I even went on to share a few stories about a number of lipsticked pig rat traps that’ve sold for staggeringly high prices considering what little staying power they were offering. Since the Fall of 2019, I’ve been seeing certain homes selling for prices I would’ve never dreamed possible. One that recently sold which I’d shown years back when it was on the market for somewhere around $10K, was reported as being sold for well over $50K more. On the generous side, I’d say those sellers at best, invested less than $10K in improvements. Just yesterday a gentleman told me his daughter paid $70K more for a home which an investor did nothing with after purchasing it not even a year before. Now isn’t that insane? I’m sure many of those sellers are believing they’d won the wheel of fortune.
When I returned to office, I had more emails and phone calls to return before calling it a morning and heading out to grab a small sandwich at a drive-thru, and on my way back, I took the long way, just so I could get a good look at a new listing that showed up yesterday. I was a bit surprised the agent hadn’t planted a for sale sign in the yard, which made me wonder if the owners preferred not to have one which I’ve always believed to be a big mistake on the part of sellers. In these times, yard signs and online advertising are pretty much the two big draws for buyers. In spite of my signs being a bit old fashioned, you can still see them from a block or two away.
After lunch, I had to make another trip out to my clients home, just to make sure the contractor was doing a good job, and thankfully he was. After hearing the horror stories regarding how hard it is to find good help for reasonable prices, I was thankful my seller managed to find one who was able to work that small project in. It seems they all want the big jobs, and by the way, if you’re looking for someone to do concrete work, you might as well forget it until next Spring because from the sounds of it, they’re all booked up into the next year. What gives?
A dear friend of my text me a photo of a family get together he’s having with two of his siblings out in the Black Hills. The photo was stunning enough to where I’ll be investigating that area a little more, and if this pandemic would ever get over, I wouldn’t mind taking a short trip out there. Truth be told, I’ve never been to the Black Hills, so I guess it’s better late than never.
When the hour of two approached, I prepared myself for a short two-block walk down to Central Park and listen to Rob Sand who’s the Auditor of the State of Iowa who’d scheduled an hour long question and answer session in our fair City. There was a brief announcement made about his visit, and after doing a little reading up on him, I made it a “must” to be there.
My first shocker, was seeing only about fifteen people there, and secondly, there wasn’t one department head from our City, and not even one of our County Supervisors. Sharon Steckman was there along with Amanda Ragan, but other than that, no one of any great standing in our City our County bothered to show up.
I’m not saying I’m an excellent judge of character, but after listening to him speak for about a half hour, I was to the point of saying, “Now that’s a guy who’s going somewhere.” It didn’t take long to realize his personal appearance was yet another confirmation that you can never get the “feel” of someone until they’re physically in your presence. Without a doubt, he’s got charisma. Before he left I walked up to him and introduced myself, shook his hand, and sincerely thanked him for taking the time to visit our City.
From what I’ve read, he’s been doing an exemplar job as our State’s Auditor. Later today, I went on the State Auditor’s website and read his bio which confirmed my belief we’re going to be seeing all the more of him in the future. Prior to being elected State Auditor, he was an assistant attorney general for our State and did a fine job at bringing about justice in our courts.
If you have time, do your own research on him because I believe he’s going to be a shining star for our State. I’m sure by now, you can tell I was very impressed.
Tonight’s One-liner is: He climbs highest who helps another up.
