Earlier this morning when looking to the west, the color of the sky had me wondering if it was going to rain again, and fortunately it didn’t, but the high cloud cover kept our sun from shining brightly. I’m now wondering if it’s the smoke coming from those fires out West again.
Since I hadn’t spoken with my dear friend in some time, I placed a call but unfortunately she didn’t answer, but not too long afterwards, she returned my call. Yes, we had another interesting and fact-filled conversation which covered our political landscape, along with the endless blunders our City has been making over this past decade, and still no end in sight. I just want all of you residents of our City to be prepared when you get your real estate tax statements because you’re gonna want to go out and spit three times. Keep in mind, our real estate assessments have been going up year-over-year, which in turn raises the end dollar amount of our tax bills. I truly feel sorry for those poor senior homeowners who’re tied to fixed incomes, and each year their purchasing power gets all the smaller.
Not but a week ago a gentleman who recently retired stopped by to let me know he’ll be looking to purchase a home these coming months, and only because he can’t afford to rent, so he’s taking a big chunk out of his savings to pay cash for a modest home under $100K. He admitted he’s solely relying on his $1,600 per month Social Security check to cover his monthly expenses. I congratulated him on socking enough away in savings over the years, just so he could pay cash for something, because if he hadn’t, he would’ve been forced to rent some sleazy 1 bedroom apartment in one of our not so popular districts, and not even have a garage to park his vehicle in. Believe me, there are millions more Americans who’re in the same boat as he is. What a way to live out those so called ‘golden years’.
I received a very troubling call from one of my long-term client’s son, just to let me know my client had heart surgery yesterday, and from the sounds of it, it didn’t go well at all, and what was the most concerning, was being told my client may have to remain in their intensive care unit for possibly weeks. What sounded like a simple procedure, certainly ended up going sideways in a great big hurry. I’ll have to call the son tomorrow, just to get an update. The scary part about it all, is the fact that my client isn’t even sixty years old. After hanging up, I suddenly recalled another client who went in about nine years ago for a simple heart procedure, and ended up dying on the operating table. That one was definitely a shocker.
Most of my day was spent orchestrating two more closings that’ll be coming up next week. We have closing day and time set for one of them, and with the other, all we’re waiting for, is the time and place where that closing will be held. Each and every day, I give thanks for my faithful and loyal clients and customers.
Just before the Noon hour arrived, I went over to that house I’ve been helping with, and picked up the remaining boxes of resalable ‘stuff’. As chance would have it, I managed to get the rest of them in my vehicle, so off I drove to 43 North Iowa. I did call them earlier, just to let them know I was coming, and today they asked that I take them in the front instead of dropping them off at their loading dock. After the woman got a good look at what was inside those boxes, she couldn’t have thanked me more after saying, “Yes, these items will sell well.” While driving away, I had to mentally pat myself on the back when remembering those hours spent sorting out what we thought would sell, and what needed to be bagged for the landfill. I guess having been down that road enough times when helping with the readying of homes, it’s definitely made me more aware of what our rummaging buyers are attracted to.
Late this afternoon, one of my past customers stopped by for a short chat, and for whatever reason, we ended up talking about the many thousands of people who signed up for that PPP money which D.T. so ‘generously’ gave to those who absolutely didn’t deserve it, which put our Country all the more in debt. I advised my visitor to go on that government website and plug in Mason City’s zip code, and for sure, he’ll have an awakening similar to what I had when I first read the names of the recipients and the amounts they received. We both agreed that if we had taken that money, neither one of us would’ve been able to sleep nights, and yet we see those churchy people smiling as they’re strolling into their respective houses of worship every Sunday. Talk about double standards! I hope in time, the IRS makes each and every one of them return the money they in truth, had no right to take.
Tonight’s One-liner is: In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder, a secret order.