After hearing how much snow we’re supposed to be getting, I braced myself for another round of snow removal. As someone said today, “I wish we’d only get three inches at a time instead of double or triple.” I was in complete agreement because when it’s over four inches deep, it becomes a grueling process. Of course that’s the price we all have to pay when living in the flatlands of North Iowa.
Between office appointments and errands, my morning was quickly eaten up, and when I discovered what time it was, I shook my head wondering where those hours went, but at least I did get some clarifications on sale files I’ve been working on, along with showing appointments set for several of my recent listings. Considering the amount of activity we’re getting on 313 S. Hampshire Place, I won’t be surprised if it’s under contract before the weekend is out.
I did receive a call this afternoon from a party who’s living out of State, asking about another one of my new listings, and after giving her all the information I had, she mentioned something about wanting a video tour which I wasn’t the most keen on doing because no matter how much a person “thinks” they’ve seen on one of those video tours, it’s absolutely nothing like being there in person. I’m pretty sure my words about the pitfalls of buying sight-unseen weren’t the best received, but I had to tell it like it is. The city in which she lives, really isn’t that far from here, so if I were in her shoes, I’d make the drive if I were that interested.
While visiting with several bankers today, when the subject of that un-built hotel and rickety Southbridge Mall came up, I couldn’t help sharing my filterless opinion on the whole thing, and after I got down off my soapbox, I was a little surprised they not only agreed with me, but also added a few more negative thoughts about it all. Thank goodness I didn’t hear our Governor’s speech the other day when she mentioned something encouraging about Mr. Rachie’s un-built hotel, because I would’ve had a jaw-drop. How inappropriate was that when giving a so-called “state of the State” address. Wow. I also heard from that banker’s mouth some very un-kind words regarding that mall to where he insisted it never should’ve been built in the first place. My only response was, “I’m still convinced the whole complex was built on cursed ground because of all the problems our City has had with it form the very beginning.” What saddens me the most, is my still remembering what South Federal looked like before they tore down those beautiful historic buildings. So much for progress.
There were more calls and emails that came in this afternoon from Realtors wanting to show my recent listings, so I busied myself with getting them all scheduled. I also got a message from an agent asking if 240 – 7th St. SE was still available, which I quickly replied, “Buyer’s financing fell thru, so it’s back up for grabs.” Twenty years ago, that would’ve been under contract right out of the gates with a first-time buyer who wanted to build some quick equity. Not anymore. In fact, I got a little vocal with a young buyer today when saying, “Why is it so many of you younger ones want to plug yourselves into expensive car payments instead of buying something that doesn’t depreciate once you drive it off the lot?” I think my intensity caused a lightbulb to go off in his brain. We’ll see if he follows thru.
When reading a news clip about some woman from Western Iowa who’s thrown her hat in the ring, and now running against our State Auditor Rob Sand, what really burned me, was hearing her insist that’s all he’s been doing since elected to that position, was creating “witch hunts”. It actually came as no surprise because Mr. Sand has been necessarily doing a far better job than his hand-picked predecessor. Why in the world would we the citizens of the State of Iowa, not want someone making sure our tax money was being spent according to our laws? Unfortunately, this business of creating fake news is becoming the name of the game if you want to get elected. I forgive ignorance, but not stupid because you can’t fix it.
I just heard about another soon to be retirement of a person who’s lived here all his life, and the words out of his mouth today was, “I can’t wait until the time comes when I don’t have to deal with the general public because they’ve evolved into something I barely recognize.” He’s always had a bit of an acid tongue when out of reach of the public’s ear, but today I could tell he was dead serious. We’ll see if he continues to live here, or fly the coop like so many others.
While in conversation with a dear one today, we somehow ended up on the subject of the Pygmalion Effect which he’d never heard of, so I took the time to enlighten him. In a nutshell, I explained that it’s when say a manager of a department, in a positive way, raises the bar on what’s expected of those beneath, which in turn, subconsciously creates a desire for those workers to excel. I went on to say that there’ve been many instances in my life where I unknowingly did just that, and later found how much more productive those whom I’d encouraged in a positive way, showed marked improvements.
Yes, there were also times when my words were dismissed as being overly demanding, and after a while, they just moved on because they refused to better themselves, which was just fine by me. Unfortunately in these times, I have to be all the more careful by soft-peddling such mindsets because of all the entitlement that’s seeped into the minds of our younger generation. As I’ve said a hundred times, “I’d rather have someone there to encourage the lifting of myself up, rather than leaving me to struggle alone.” Yes, a fiery-fierce independence, does help foster stubborn and narrow-minded people.
Tonight’s One-liner is: Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others, cannot keep it from themselves.
