It was somewhat of a disappointing morning when finding my 2nd showing on 1012 N. Carolina had not turned out as I was expecting, and in spite of what I was being told by the buyers, I ended up having this ‘gut’ feeling it wasn’t really anything about the house, but rather it being in a higher price range than what’s financially comfortable for them. Yes, these rising interest rates are having an impact on the buying power of today’s buyers. Our 30 year rates are still about double what they were say three years ago, and for sure the average wages haven’t risen enough to counter-balance those effects.
I was called out to look at an estate home which is just in the beginnings of being prepped for sale, so I offered some suggestions, along with giving the executor my estimate of value which I don’t think went over very well, but I’d rather tell it like it is instead of filling sellers full of false hopes. We’ll see if I get a call back in a month or so to list it. As chance would have it, I had an offer on that very home a number of years ago which didn’t go anywhere, so it wasn’t like it was my first walk-thru. Oh well, I gave it my best shot.
Unfortunately I had to call one of my sellers to inform him that there’s going to be a delay on the closing of his home, and only because the selling agent’s buyer hasn’t got everything moving along on that side of the fence. After hearing the reasons for the delay, I had to keep from being a little brittle, because if it were me, I would’ve had things moving along a whole lot faster. Of course my seller wasn’t the happiest about the delay, so I called the selling agent back, just to share my seller’s thoughts, so hopefully that was enough to put them on the fast track.
The highlight of my day, was getting another unit over at Prairie Place on 1st listed which happens to be a 3rd floor unit that’s in exceptionally good condition. I’ve taken all the photos I need, so hopefully before the sun rises tomorrow morning, it’ll be fully disseminated out into the cyber universe. It’s a 2 bedroom 2 bath unit which happens to have that building’s most popular floor plan. I’ve got several people I’m going to call in the morning, but if you know anyone who’s looking for a ‘top drawer’ condo, have them give me a call. The asking price on it is $241,500.00
A friend of mine stopped by this afternoon just to see how I’ve been doing, and somehow we got on the subject of how our city has been devolving over these past three decades, and he believes the bulk of it is due to a chronic brain drain which started years ago with the shrinking of our good paying jobs, so it was a natural occurrence for grown children to move to areas where there were better paying jobs, and the remaining, were those who didn’t have the greatest educations or driving desires to better themselves. His comments mirrored mine of several days ago when saying we get ‘newbie’ hires in the police department, fire department and medical fields, but they only stay long enough to gain enough experience to hook better paying jobs in larger cities which offer more opportunities for advancement, along with having more after hours activities to choose from. Yes, that’s the hard facts that everyone dances around, but never come to grips with the reality of it all.
Another gripe he had which I fully understood, are all the public areas of our City which are in great need of attention. So instead of taking care of what we’ve already got, our illustrious city fathers continue to press for more things being created which will sooner than later, look like what we already have and can’t fully maintain. That bike trail and river walk they’re working on, is gonna be another flash in the pan, and end up like all the rest of those follies our city’s ‘inner-circle’ has pushed down our throats.
I asked him if he read those flowery pages contained in our water bills, and of course he like several others said it all went in the trash without being read. I guess after reading those that’ve come in past months, they soon become a laughable waste of time. Yes, the most recent was filled with flowery words and extrapolated statistics. Gosh I’m glad he stopped by because I sometimes feel like I’m turning bitter and not being realistic.
Late this afternoon when reading the news, I happened to notice a review that was given on Rob Reiner’s new film called ‘God and Country’ which I’ll definitely have to look for because it’s about how these alt-right religious politicians who are helping to advance the stripping-away of our beloved democracy. When it does come out, be sure to look for it as I will.
Another scary news-clip was about a handful of our deep-digging reporters who’re coming up with some past statements and associations of our dear Mike Johnson who now holds the high office of Speak of the House of Representatives. I’m beginning to believe he’s one of those who thinks he’s been instructed by God to ‘fix’ all the problems our country’s facing. He and Josh Hawley are two very creepy dudes.
I happened to notice when looking at the weather, we may be getting snow on Wednesday of next week, so don’t put your shovels and winter coats away just yet.
Tonight’s One-liner is: If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.
