If there was ever a recent day at office I was happy to see come to an end, I’d say today was at the top of the list because of the two back-to-back closings I had which both ended up having a soft landing. Fortunately I had the opportunity to visit with the buyer of the first one, and after listening for a few minutes, I could tell he was the perfect fit for that home we were all waiting for.
My sellers were still in shock over how the sale of their home and the purchase of another just happened to fall into place, and so much so, we all came to the conclusion there having been a divine intervention. From the get go, what kept that home from selling, were the mixed signals some of the buyers were getting from a certain one in City Hall who’s the so-called “go to” person when it comes to flood districts, and of course my seller had pretty much given up on getting any straight answers regarding his home, so he just decided to list it in spite of the information he was being fed.
The second barrier of getting it sold, was my sellers insisting I included on the listing, the sale of their home being subject-to them purchasing the home of their choice. Well, with this crazy market, you can imagine how many homes were listed and sold during the extended marketing time we had on it. Well, we received an offer on it, and the buyer agreed to give an extended period of time for the sellers to find something, which put me on a burn to keep my eye out for any new listings that would be a good fit. Now this is where divine intervention comes in. Not two days after their home went under contract, a condominium came on the market one Saturday morning, so I immediately called the buyers and scheduled a showing. Without getting into any details, by the time the sun had set that evening, they had their new digs under contract. Because that unit was on the main floor, there’s no question in my mind that if that had been on the market for another day or two, there would’ve been multiple offers on it. The buyers had only looked at it once, and fortunately they knew they had to act fast or they’d likely lose it. Up until this morning when we closed on both of them, I couldn’t help being anxious because everything fell into place exactly as it should. Yes, there are divine interventions taking place in our lives which most don’t slow down enough to take notice.
After these past two days of multiple closings, we now have the last one taking place tomorrow morning. Tomorrow’s also had time constraints on it, and thankfully the abstract office and title attorney was good enough to get their work cranked out quickly. I’m going to remain confident the seller got all his personal property removed because I know my buyer is not going to want to deal with getting rid of any personality belonging to others. We’ll see what it looks like come tomorrow morning when I meet the buyer at the property for his final walk-thru.
My curiosity regarding who or what entity purchased that commercial building behind the Midas Muffler building on Delaware, prompted me to go online and have a look. To my shock, I read that it’s new owner is Prairie Ridge which is that drug and alcohol treatment center out near Mercy’s West Campus. Most have no idea how many Counties that facility services, and what troubles me the most, is why they purchased a building in our Historic Downtown. Here we have the Transition Center of North Iowa, Prairie Ridge and BeJee Clark Center, and all of them covering and servicing wide areas of Northern Iowa, and even people from out of State. I had to laugh to myself when discovering Dr. Lala no longer having tenants from the Transition Center living on the second floor of that building which is on the corner just south of my office. It’s just recently been re-skinned again to accommodate higher paying tenants. They must be quite the showplaces because I discovered several weeks ago, one of our Realtors having rented one of them.
Since I’d run out of paper towels at my office, I ran over to Fareway to pick up a package, and since I was already there, I headed back to the meat department, and just as I was passing an aisle, I heard a voice out of my past call my name. I turned and looked, and there stood the pastor of one of our churches which I frequented prior to my mother’s death. I was actually surprised he remembered my name, but since it’s so common, it’s no wonder he remembered it.
Our chat ended up being longer than expected due to being informed of the recent happenings in his church, along with what I’ve been up to since this pandemic arrived. I did mention my agreeing to play over at St. Paul Lutheran Church on a regular basis, but what shocked me the most, was him saying he’d stopped by my office several times over these many months, just to see how I was doing. I couldn’t help saying, “You know I’m in and out a lot which is why I always encourage people to call first.”
We also visited about the number of regular church goers who’ve stopped their weekly visits, along with a Pastor from another church having angered an “anchor” family by refusing to allow a Saturday funeral in his church to the point where it created a situation which couldn’t be resolved, so he left. I didn’t want to keep him any longer so I bid my farewell while wishing him a delightful Thanksgiving. Of course I had to also add the fact that I’d left two messages for him several years ago and yet to have received a response. He did apologize, but for the strangest reason, I had the “feeling” he never received them. Who knows.
After a few hours of intermittent reflecting over our encounter, I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s very much tied to his inner circle and far more than he realizes, so perhaps today’s meeting will give him the incentive to start connecting with those on the outside. If should happen, he’ll likely be seeing more of those old faces at his Services.
Tonight’s One-liner is: If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.
