Well, at least we didn’t get the four to six inches of snow that was earlier predicted, but the two to three we got was definitely wet and heavy which is always an extra chore for us. Thank goodness it was hovering around 32 degrees today which helped to get some of that undercoating of sleet melted off.
Of course my morning was filled with all my various snow removal jobs, but at least by noontime, I was completely finished. I did have to go over the front sidewalk at my office later this afternoon, just to get that melting sleet shoveled to the curbside. Winter’s definitely here, and after getting myself back in the grove of shoveling, I guess I’m about as ready as can be for what’s ahead of us.
Those loud-mufflered beat-up old pickup trucks driving around like maniacs with their front-mounted snow blades and snowblowers in their beds, was enough to make me want to yell at them because of how they were so carelessly driving. I can only imagine how many dents and scrapes they create over the course of a winter. Keep in mind, they’re usually out before people are up and about, so those curb-parked cars are fair game. The police department must’ve been given a directive to ticket cars parked on the wrong side of the street, because just while driving down Pennsylvania Ave., I must’ve seen at least a dozen cars with tickets on them. I can’t even imagine ever living in an apartment or house where I’d have to park on the street, because that’s just an invitation for vandalism and thievery.
I received a call this afternoon from one of the seller’s I’d done a quick walk-thru and valuation for earlier this week, asking if I would have time to list his home tomorrow afternoon, and since it was free, I agreed, so hopefully by the time Sunday morning arrives, it’ll be disseminated out into the cyber universe. I’m going to remain hopeful it’ll sell right away due to its location, square-footage and condition. I’m gonna post it as my feature listing on tomorrow’s page, just in case any of you are looking, or someone you know. Yes, you’d have the first crack at it.
Just today I noticed a property I’d walked thru about four years ago and said to a buyer at the time, “Don’t walk; run from this one.”, which is exactly what he did. Well, somebody did end up buying it, but then re-sold it to another, and the last time it did sell, was for a meager $3,000, which was likely what the lot was worth, but today, it was reported sold for almost $150K! I just about fell off my chair when seeing it.
No matter how many improvements were made on that skeleton, it still has a bucket of bones basement, along with inferior framing. Well, it’s just one more example of how someone can take something like that, lip-stick it really good, and then sell it for that amount of money. First of all, it has very limited square-footage, an un-finishable basement, and located in one of our not so popular districts. Whomever purchased it must’ve been ignorant to our market conditions, or blind to quality of construction and/or design and appeal.
Seeing that sale today, came right after I read a very good and fully-verified nationwide report which was speaking about those who purchased residences beginning at the time the pandemic started, and ending in our current month. It came as absolutely no surprise when the report said that at least, and keep in mind the author stressed “at least” one in four of those who’d purchased in that time frame, are now sorry they did.
Having been marketing real estate since before many of our trees have arrived, I’ve insisted that never before have I seen the degree of impetuous buying that started right after the pandemic hit, which I considered the worst time for anyone to be going bat-shite crazy. Well, many of my competitors took such and opportunity and ran with it, but unfortunately my bank of business suffered greatly during 2020 because I wasn’t able to calibrate my brain to it all until the end of that year, but shortly after the Christmas of 2020, I made a promise to myself to not become too cautionary towards those “I wanna buy something now.” buyers, but rather only offer my opinion if asked, and that’s exactly how I’ve since conducted myself.
The number of buyers I lost to “for sale by owner” sellers was remarkable, but I had to keep telling myself, there was nothing I could do. I can now only imagine how many of them are now wishing they’d listened to me and started pulling in their reigns and sitting it out for a year or two. Offering but one example of many, I’ll never forget the couple who’d run me ragged for months looking and offering on acreages, and then ended up buying a FSBO. Well, after a good year had passed, I took a drive by their new spread, and after but one “rubber-necking” of it, I continued driving while saying to myself, “There’s no way in hell I’d want to live there, and especially because of the creepy-weird feeling I was getting of the whole area. For me, it was like North Iowa’s very own Area 51. I’m now wondering if the homesites in that mile or two square area, have had some unexplainable happenings take place over the years.
One of dear friends of at least 20+ years called today, and only to play catch-up on our local happenings. He used to live here, but like most, managed to land a more promising job out of State. Since we’ve known each other for so long, we’d long ago removed our filters, so I was free to talk to him about the happenings in my personal life, as well as my work, along with what’s been taking place in our City. Yes, he’s been a tried and true friend whom I can go for many weeks without exchange, yet still be able to pick up where we left off. He also has a laugh that’s infectious enough to get me going on my rants and raves. Too funny.
Tonight’s One-liner is: Be as you wish to seem.
