Heaven at 1707

| January 24, 2017

1707 S Federal Ave-7It looks like we’re going to be under a thick blanket of snow come morning.  It’s been a while since I’ve seen snow come down so hard and fast.  If this keeps up all night, we’ll certainly have those 8 – 10 inches or even more by the time it quits.  I do hope everyone is exceptionally careful while driving in it on their way to work.  I’ve already seen two people go sliding thru intersections Downtown already.  I’m very glad my appointment out of town was early this morning rather than later today.

Most of my day was spent doing follow-ups with buyers in preparation for closings coming up the end of this month.  I think I’ve got all the bases covered so it looks like they should be closing smoothly when the days arrive.  Of course with out-of-town sellers, there’s always those little extras that I must attend to since they’re not here to take care of loose ends.  I’m glad I had my Wheaties this morning because I had to remove a free standing safe from a closet and carry it to my car and take it to storage area where the sellers will come this Spring to pick it up while on their way thru Mason City.  I couldn’t help but laugh at the grocery store later today when the clerk asked me if I needed help with my two small bags.  I smiled and looked at her and said, “Not at all. You wouldn’t believe what I’ve already carried by myself today, but thanks for asking.”  I’m sure she’s to wonder what it was I was carrying.

One of my dear clients had a hardcover book sent to me that’s completely all about fermentation.  While paging thru it, I happened to read some of the directions of making sauerkraut.  The author was making it sound like it was something newly discovered.  I can remember as a youngster helping my mother with her preparations for making it.  We had large earthenware crocks that were used for making a variety of recipes made from cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, to just about everything in between.  Homemade kosher dill pickles and sauerkraut were my favorite.  Sometimes she would make a fermented fruit concoction which had a variety of fruits in it which was used to pour over vanilla ice cream.  It was really quite good.  One of the recipes in that book spoke about making sourdough bread starter using rye flour and potato water. That was the same thing an elderly woman did who I used to work for during the summer when I was a money seeking teenager.  Her bread making skills were beyond compare. It’s interesting how some of the old ways are growing popular again.

I spoke to the seller of my commercial listing at 1707 S. Federal today, and he’s decided to do a price reduction on it tomorrow.  I’m still convinced there’s an entrepreneur in our midst that’ll finally see the future value in that building and its location.  If I were looking for a place to have a pub/restaurant, I’d buy this one because of its parking and highway visibility.  I can already see it evolving into an Irish style up-scale pub/eatery that would attract all the millennia’s in North Iowa.  As they’ve always said, “Good food, good prices, and great atmosphere make for a vibrant bar/restaurant.”  Someone will be in heaven at 1707 S. Federal.  Click on the following link to view this potential moneymaker.

1707 S. Federal Mason City

North Iowa’s Universe

| January 23, 2017

North-Iowa's-Universe

First and foremost, I must confess I gave you all the wrong name of a film I referred to in last night’s article.  In error, I called it “Flatline”, but in actuality it’s called “Flatliners” It was a movie that was released 27 years ago and to my surprise, it’s still highly rated. I also discovered there’s a sequel to it that’ll be released sometime this coming September.

Having only seen it once a great number of years ago, I downloaded it last night and sat through it again.  Again I found it interesting how when a movie that has many hidden messages in it, a number of them aren’t caught until it’s been watched a second time.  I couldn’t believe I actually shed a few tears at the ending which was quite remarkable because it takes a bit of good movie-making to get me that emotional.

By happenstance, I found myself talking about this movie to a gentleman who still has children at home.  He mentioned having watched it a number of years ago, but I nearly insisted he view it again along with his children.  It would be a movie I’d encourage people of all ages to watch simply because of the great social/moral lessons that are to be learned from it. Some of it is a bit “horrorish” but not so bad.  I’ll not speak anymore about it so not to spoil the plot for you.  I’m sure you’ll all enjoy watching it along with recalling similar incidents that have taken place in your lives.  I’m confident you’ll enjoy it as much as I did—even if it’s the second or third time you’ve seen it.

It seemed to be a day that went flying by with unexpected appointments and necessary travels outside the City.  I’m getting closer to having another one or two of my listings sold after enduring a few setbacks along with what’s felt like baby step movements.  Oh well, it’s all part of the process as I keep reminding myself how differently people view their worlds around them.  Isn’t it amazing how much data storage our brains are capable of when clearly recalling some of the most casual of comments made by others?

One of the powers that be here in Mason City had a few moments to share with me regarding the direction our community is moving.  We both seemed to be of like mind when giving our opinions of things that shouldn’t have happened in the past, along with the continued backwashing that takes place nearly every time something that would be considered an overall good for our City, and then later to be blind-sighted by loud mouthed naysayers who create doubting dust storms in the minds of our citizenry.  Whenever I hear or read something ridiculous they’ve said, I think to myself, “Who in their right mind would even consider believing such tripe?”  Well, unfortunately in these times the old saying still holds true, “Whoever screams the loudest gets heard.”  For me, people that scream the loudest are those I ignore.  Like children, if we can’t get attention in a good way, there’s always the falling back to getting it in a bad.  Please, let’s all stay focused and remain diligent in making Mason City the center of North Iowa’s universe.

Teeter Totter

| January 22, 2017

teete-totterIt’s beginning to look more like early March rather than late January with our temps continuing to hover in the 30’s these days.  At least most of our dangerous ice has melted.  Someone told me several days ago they’d never seen so much ice lasting for so long.  Early this morning, I made sure to take time to chip a big section away from the back of my building to where it’s not so dangerous walking back there.

I spent most of my day still playing “janitor in a drum” at a rental unit.  There really are people living here in Mason City whom you’d never think them to be filthy housekeepers when walking past them in public.  I’ll never forget on particular tenant who dressed like a model out of GQ, but when he and his wife moved out of a house, I was mortified to find mounds of pizza boxes, piles of beer cans, and accompanied by filth.  Believe it or not, they actually insisted they were due the return of their damage deposit in full.  The very few times I’ve crossed paths with either of them since, the first thing that comes to mind are those beer cans and those sky-high piles of pizza boxes.

One of my listings just got the final green light on it’s sale today, so there’ll be another office closing coming up soon.  There wasn’t much concern on my part that it wouldn’t sell in a relatively short period of time because the sellers listened to me, and continued to remain diligent in getting their home as presentable as possible.  I even told their children, “Now you make sure you help with getting your home sold by keeping your rooms presentable.”  I had to laugh to myself seeing the look that one of their sons gave me.  Driving away a thought crossed my mind wondering if perhaps he was instead thinking, “But what if I don’t want to move?  You’ve now given me all the more reason to not keep my room picked up.”  He’s the one that scared the yell out of me while I was showing his parents a home one afternoon.  It’s interesting how so many children like doing that.

A dear client asked me out for lunch at one of the eat-in or take-outs at noontime today. I went and picked him up, and when pulling into their lot, it looked as though the entire district was having lunch their.  We decided to take the drive-thru and head back to his place.  We spent nearly an hour together where we discussed several major current events unfolding in our country as well as the world. It’s always good to get someone else’s opinion on things that’ve been brewing.  He made me laugh heartily more than once while making a few wicked comments.  As I was leaving, I thanked him immensely for lifting my spirits by making his not so kind comments about several people who’re now headlining our news.

When later thinking about our conversation, I inwardly laughed again when he was saying how one of the people we were talking about reminded him of a naughty fourth grader.  He brought up several of our childhood rhymes which started my belly laughs.  One of them was, “Teeter totter, bread and water, wash you face in dirty water.” I wonder what sort of rhymes our little tykes of today are singing while out at play in their schoolyards, which now remind me of that old movie, “Flatline”.

Muddin in our January

| January 21, 2017

Muddin in our JanuaryI meant to share with you all something that I thought a bit creepy when looking back on one of my recent pages when I wrote about the adding up of the single digits of a day this past week and the sum of those digits equalling that particular day.   Being insatiably curios at times, I went back and then forward in days to see if the’d be the same.  To my surprise I discovered the days starting on the 11th of January and ending on the 19th, they all ended up being similar with the sum of their digits equaling each of those given days until it ended on the 20th which was the day our new President was sworn into office.  I’ve never been into numerology, but I did consider it to be quite the coincidence.

To my delight, there were people coming and going from the public open house I was hosting today at 2031 Springview Drive.  There was even a guest who came back for a second look.  The seller really does want to get it sold which is why I told everyone that if a reasonable offer is submitted, it’ll likely be sold.  Since I just recently finished a book I’d been plugging away at for about three months, I grabbed something new to read in thinking it was going to be a slow day.  So much for making personal assumptions.

I just received a $5,000 price reduction on a condo I have listed at 422 S. Tennessee Place here in Mason City.  I’m in belief it’ll be sold before Spring arrives since there’s nothing to compare with it in price.  The floor plan is absolutely wonderful, and it may sound trivial to some, but its bathroom has not only a step-in shower, but also a separate bathtub.  You almost never find something like that in a property priced as low as $104,500.  The seller keeps it immaculately clean as well as maintenance free.  If one would purchase a new condo with similar square footage and features, it would likely cost $100,000 more.  I believe we’ll be getting more action on it now that it’s reduced. I’m still waiting for that single professional to fall in “like” with it.

A section of our market that looks like it’s going to be spiking even more this year are the acreages.  I was surprised to see a handful of country homesites already having closed this month.  It’s not surprising since I’ve been getting a number of inquiries on the acreage I have listed in Fertile.  Yes, the house needs updating, but it does have good bones and the mechanicals are current.  I hope whomever buys it utilizes its heated shop and turns it into a place where a sideline income can be created. Most don’t realize how many big companies were started in garages and workshops.

While I was out today, I happened to drive past a home I have listed and noticed my for sale sign was bent.  I stopped to bend it back, and while moving it, I found the ground wasn’t frozen about an inch or two below.  I pulled it out, and placed it more firmly in another area.  If this be the case and it continues, it’ll be a following year our soil hasn’t frozen solid.  With our warmer than normal temperatures along with this rain, I’m believing I’ll be needing some wooden shoes while out muddin in our January goo.

Higher Bar

| January 20, 2017

2031 Springview Dr-1Normally I’m not a lover of fog, but at least it’s telling us the temperatures are still warm enough to get more of last week’s ice melted off.  There were a number out of State visitors here today who were likely impressed by the creepy beauty of our Historic Downtown. Ornate old buildings seem to appear all the more memorable in fog. I said to someone this morning, at least the fog will keep the first-lookers from noticing some of our City’s “on a clear day” blemishes.  As our daylight hours grow longer, I’m feeling all the more charged-up for the coming months of real estate sales.

Someone asked me today why it takes so long for a home to close once it’s sold.  I went on to explain how with our new banking rules that recently went into effect create more days of waiting, and of course some buyers want to have their new homes inspected add more days of waiting, and finally there are those eternal waits for appraisers to not only do their inspections, but to complete their final reports.

With all those people involved, you’d swear the whole transaction’s akin to a spoked wheel to where everyone’s on the outside working their way inward to the center which is the sale finally closing. Unfortunately they all don’t move towards the center at the same speed which creates wobbly wheels, and we all know how they can slow machines down.

It seems we’re back in the high time of North Iowans taking off for crystal beaches and shady palms these weeks of January.  I think at least six different families I know are heading out for Mexican resorts or cruises.  I’m certainly happy for them because they’ve all earned their relaxing vacations. The article I read early this morning about a woman being bitten multiple times by a slough of bedbugs in a five star hotel at one of those resorts made me think twice about going on a winter break.  I’m in hopes a listing of mine that’s owned by one of them will be sold before they return to North Iowa.  That’ll be my “welcome home” gift to them.

The public open house I have scheduled for tomorrow is located at 2031 Springview Drive here in Mason City.  It’s a twin home that’s far bigger than it looks from the outside. It offers 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, and an absolutely gorgeous sunroom that was recently installed.  Whether it be cold or hot outside, one can enjoy nature without being affected by our changing temperatures while comfortably seated with book in hand behind all those windows to our world.  The right buyer will come along and certainly feel themselves blessed by buying this unit for years to come.  The asking price is $118,500 and I’ll be hosting it from 1:00 – 3:00 pm tomorrow.

The highlight of my day was having two of the most dear souls stop by my office who’ve recently purchased a home from me.  Whenever we’re together, it seems we somehow find ourselves discussing current events in our City.  We pretty much have all the ills of Mason City talked about, laughed about, and subsequently fixed.  Since they’re both natives as myself, we’re able to compare the thens and nows and oft times those circumstances that brought us to where we are.  All three of us came to the conclusion they’re are too many mean-spirited people in our City that really get their jollies by trying to put people down every chance they get, and unfortunately many others believing their stinky stories.  There really should be a higher bar of journalistic code for those who “think” they’re unbiasedly reporting our local news.

Be Exceptionally Careful

| January 19, 2017

Be-Exceptionally-CarefulMaybe once or twice a year I find myself wrestling with a buyer/seller transaction that should have been a done deal weeks or even months earlier, but for some unexplainable reason, the more proposals and counter-proposals that are created, the more at odds the buyers and sellers become as they further themselves from a making a deal that should’ve been done early on in their so-called “game”.  There’s one in particular that’s quickly coming to a head to where either the buyer purchases the property or walks.  Having spent so much extra time on it already, I’m beginning to believe it to be certainly one of those marathon negotiations. Whatever happens going forward, will simply happen.  I’ll not be the least surprised if an intervening circumstance takes place which will create yet another twist in this dealmaking—like the arrival of another buyer at the table.

With it being a cold and half foggy day, I decided to call several colleagues before the lunch hour arrived and invite them out for a meal at Thai Bistro which is located in our Historic Downtown.  They both agreed so off I drove expecting some good food and great conversation.  Since I’ve lunched there before, I wasn’t concerned about the quality of the meal.  After we were seated by an unfamiliar face, we took a few minutes to choose what sounded good for today.  Our meals were delivered, all three of us after sampling our meals, were pleased with what we ordered. The strangest thing started happening which I’ll likely never forget because it just seemed a bit “odd” for the setting.  Whenever the waiter would come and pick up our empty plates or bowls, he’d say, “How is everything?” We’d singularly answer, “Good”.  But, his next response became a repeated, “Yum yum.”  The first time it happened we didn’t think much of it, but after the third or forth time it was bordering on noticeably annoying.  I said to one of my guests, “Does he think we’re children seated in a high chair in need of encouragement to eat what’s left on our plates?” I guess it must have been something he picked up from another server and thought it to be appropriate.

Something happened again today that’s making me all the more concerned over these hackings of our country’s emails its rising to a next level.  There are some really clever monkeys off-shore who’re now sending messages to people and appearing to be genuinely legit messages from their email providers.  About a week ago I received a message from what appeared to be my email provider saying I needed to change my password because my email account was under attack by someone in Russialand.  Well, thank goodness, I looked to see where that email came from and it turned out to be a spam.  Today, I received another one similar from a sender making it appear as though it was from my email provider and saying something about how they now have more efficient tools to stop attempted spam and hacks into my email account.  I looked to see where this one came from, and sure enough, it was spam. What is happening with the millions who don’t have a better understanding of our computer world—especially our elderly?

Most sternly I say to everyone, “Be exceptionally careful in not allowing yourselves to be duped by those likely foreign rascals who’re trying to steal your identities.  Every day, our age of information seems to be appearing all the more scary for me. I’ll be starting to fall back in “like” with snail mail.

Prairie Place on 1st

| January 18, 2017

Prairie Place on 1stMy day was split by two great tasks and luckily both of them have been accomplished.  My first and foremost was to get the near half inch thick ice chipped and scraped off the front sidewalk of my building.  I’m expecting visitors later this week, and I’d rather have a clean entrance from street to door.  I can’t ever remember seeing ice that thick on our sidewalks before, along with it lasting so long.  After several hours of being fully focused on that ice sheet, I finally got it removed along with my neighbor’s next door.  I just couldn’t seem to get myself to stop at just my storefront.  Well, at least it’s finished and our City block is back to being presentable again.

The second time consuming task, was to get my administrative work done on current office sales and listings.  As with may professions, most of the general public have no idea the nuts and bolts of real estate transactions.  So starting tomorrow, I can get back to focusing on my normal day to day duties.  I can certainly say that so far this month, it’s already been abnormally busy for the month of January.

One of my meetings outside my office today was with a gentleman who most have no idea the depth of his mental capacity.  The few times I have an opportunity to speak to him during the year, he usually brings me up to speed on some sophisticated project he’s working on at present. Having known him for a number of years and grown to understand his abilities, I finally said to him today, “You know I’ve known you for a number of years and I’m continuing to hope that some day before you leave this earth, you’ll create something that’ll “wow” all the rest of us, and if you don’t, I’ll be disappointed that you haven’t made a great mark for mankind with your fine mind.”  He was left nearly speechless for a moment or two, but I think he needed that boost of moral support.

As chance would have it, I managed to get myself invited over to Prairie Place on 1st which is the absolutely stunning condominium complex that’s been under construction by the Good Shepherd.  Since I was to meet my guide in the lobby, I walked in and immediately became awed by the building’s quality and design.  Finding him not waiting there for me, I quickly phone him, and he answered by saying, “Just hop on the elevator and come up to 3rd Floor.”

Since there are at least six different floor plans, I was fortunate enough to get the grand tour of all of them.  I’m sure my guide was growing weary of my constant praise, but I couldn’t help myself to where each unit I would enter, I’d find myself all the more delighted. I can’t begin to speak of all the extras being offered, but I will say whomever designed and built those units knew exactly what they were doing.

What surprised me the most about every unit, was the amount of natural light they all have filtering within.  You’d never expect them to be that light-filled when driving past the complex from the outside.  The underground parking offers far more room for cars than you’d normally find in similar structures. Of course, there are community rooms for gatherings, exercise rooms, and extra storage rooms for all those off-season things we have to store away including Christmas trees.

In spite of it not being completely and totally finished, I was informed that there’s already a third of them sold and getting close for occupancy.  Rest assured, when our weather warms, there’ll be many more sold.  I mentioned to my guide while walking out, “Our City as a whole should get down and kiss the feet of Good Shepherd for turning a long awaited vision into a reality.”  He may have thought me being overly flattering but I meant it.  They managed to create a new district within spitting distance of our Historic Downtown and I personally bless the for it.  Click on the following link to view its floor plans.

Good Shepherd, Inc.

After all, don’t you believe we should all start sending out the best of our intentions for the future of Prairie Place on 1st?

11717

| January 17, 2017

11717It’s amazing how our landscape was transformed in just a bit over 24 hours into an ice-covered plain where not even our dogs can walk without their legs wanting to give way to the greasy surfaces.  The two showings I had this afternoon were treacherous to say the least.  I couldn’t believe the buyers were not wearing more appropriate footwear.  I had to hold my breath several times when watching them going up steps along with walking a sidewalk that was at a bit of an incline. Thank goodness we all managed to stay erect.

Finding I’d run out of chicken grit when I went looking for more to spread on the sidewalk outside my office, I immediately drove out to our east-side hardware store where I purchased the previous bag. I walked back to the aisle where it was the last time, and found every type of ice melt imaginable, but no grit.  I went back up to the front counter and asked a young gentleman who seemed more interested in making an impression on a young female clerk than waiting on me.  When he finally decided to come over to the counter and help me I said, “Do you have any chicken grit?”  He answered, “Hunh?”  I raised my voice and again said, “Do you have any chicken grit?”  Pointing in a direction he blurted, “It’s down in aisle 4.”  I walked back to the same place I’d just come from and looked all the closer thinking I’d missed it.  The “Hunh” clerk sauntered back where I was and said, “It looks like we’re out of it.”  Feeling my internal fires starting to burn I said, “Does your store in Clear Lake have it?”  “Oh yeah,  I’m sure they do.” he grunted. While walking out, all I could think of was that rude “hunh?” being blurted out of his pie hole.  Where have all our manners gone?

Off I went on my unplanned drive in the fog to Clear Lake.  It was so foggy over there, I almost missed my turn at the entrance to their other hardware store.  After walking in, the first thing I asked the nearest clerk was, “Do you have any chicken grit?”  “Nope” he said.  “We ran out a couple of days ago.” he added.  Fuming inside, I walked out thinking all the more about that flirting little male clerk who caused me a worthless trip to Clear Lake.

Deciding I needed to treat myself to something warm to drink on my way back to Mason City, I stopped at one of the convenience stores nearest the Interstate.  Paying no attention to anyone around me, I busied myself with a new-age coffee machine. It was sort of a dial-your-taste mechanism.  A voice to my right said, “Aren’t these quite the sophisticated machines?”  I looked, and found it to be a customer I recently sold a home to in Mason City.   We had a nice chat and before I left I said, “Do you know of any place here or in Mason City that sells chicken grit?”  Thank goodness he directed me to the Co-op on Hwy 122.   I drove there and thank goodness they had two bags left which I willingly purchased. They are the nicest people whom I’d freely give a gold star for service.

Back to my office I went with the feeling of a mission finally being fulfilled.  After my arrival, I put on an old work coat and carried those two 50 lb. bags to the store room.  The front sidewalk was finally made safe for walking after over two hours of time spent finding that much needed grit.  The person I blame the most for this wild goose chase is myself for not checking to see how much I had available for this winter. It was yet another lesson in need of being re-learned.  At this late hour of the day, I suddenly realized that our current date of 01/17/17 and added together as single digits equals the number 17.  Interesting, don’t you think?

An Achilles Heel

| January 16, 2017

PicSketch-2017-01-16-17-14-19-2If anyone possessing any sort of memory of the way our climate here in North Iowa used to be in comparison to today’s, and still believe our world is not being affected by man-made climate change, they’re completely and totally in denial.

How many times prior to say 20 years ago did we have rain and sleet in January?  Some of the 100+ year old trees that’ve dotted our countrysides have even succumbed to the extra pressures of our changing climate.  From the straight line high winds from abnormal directions, to ice storms weighing down their branches to breaking points, and everything else in between should at least give us a clue something’s wrong.

While out in Eastern Iowa several weeks ago, I paid special attention to all the groves of trees that had many of their tops broken off.  And of course, we can’t forget about most recently having a 500 year flood, and then this past year one that came close to being a repeat.  My heart still goes out to those poor people living in Greene who endured yet another flood last year. Do you believe they’re in denial of global warming?

In spite of it being dangerously slippery outside, I believe another one of my office listing’s just got sold today.  I was confident it would sell more sooner than later since it was priced right, in a popular neighborhood, as well as being in great condition.  I’m gonna have to work at getting a few more new listings on board before our Spring rush.  As long as the interest rates stay within reasonable limits, we should continue to see buyer activity.

To my surprise, I didn’t wake up this morning with all the aches and pains from my marathon of removing dried paint splats on those wooden floors yesterday.  I was thinking about having another go at the one remaining but decided against it when one of the tradespeople showed up asking for the key to finish up on his work there.

I mentioned to a young clerk today, “When out walking today, I felt like a greased pig on ice.”  He laughed and said, “I’ve never heard that before.”  I couldn’t help but say, “Oh, I’m filled with a whole lot more that many in your age group have never heard.”  I did use one of my favorites on someone last week which goes, “Tit for tat, butter for fat, you kill my dog and I’ll kill your cat.”  What was the most surprising, was that particular person who’s around my age having never heard it before.

Still trying to get my brain wrapped around our last elections, I happened upon an online article published by Spiegel which is a German newspaper.  It’s quite long, but worth a read because after finishing it, I’ve finally come into more of an understanding now.  The thrust of the article is about how far too many people as I’ve already believed, are becoming a bit hypersensitive to a world they somehow don’t consider themselves a part.  I’m still convinced there are far too many smart-phone news feeds that are polluting our younger generations’s reality.  After reading the article, I’m now up to speed with the concept of microaggression, cisgender, and being narcissistically unaware.

In reflection, I began thinking back to when I was in high school.  I was more invisible than visible during those years simply because I sometimes had a heavy load to carry both in and outside of school.  Whenever there would be a bullying student attempting to get under my skin, I’d endure as much as I could until I’d say something like, “If you don’t stop, you’re gonna get it.”  Well if it didn’t stop, my mouth would unleash some of the most cutting words about that person’s personal and/or intellectual faults.  Believe me, it wasn’t a plate anyone would’ve ordered for breakfast.  With that said, I learned long before, where it’s better to study people from a quiet distance than to be yapping away in futile attempts to be part of the so-called “popular crowd”.

In quiet observation one can usually discover and remember an achilles heel or two.  The following is the link to that article if you’re interested in a long, yet good article.

 Has Political Correctness Gone off the Rails in America?

More Definition

| January 15, 2017

More Definition-1As I mentioned yesterday, I had my Sunday pretty much planned out to be doing some laborious tasks on a rental that’s nearly ready to be posted for rent.  My entire planned day was yet another example of how when forecasting amounts of time needed on a certain project, hours seem to get swallowed up by those little annoying things that just don’t want to give way to our wishes.

Without my knowledge, the previous tenants decided to paint without asking me.  This assumption has run rampant all these years our office has been involved in property management.  Even our leases speak of tenant improvements to where they must always be approved in writing by the landlord.  So much for remembering lease terms.

The main reason I’m so dead set against tenants painting, is that they’re nearly never professional about it, nor are they color sensitive to what they believe a landlord would consider to be acceptable. I can assure you, I’ve seen some pretty scary colors in not only rentals, but also homes that have homeowners living in them.  Another really big pet peeve of mine are those mindless stencils people place on their walls.  The most annoying are those trite little sayings in bedrooms.  Why don’t they have original wooden plaques carved with something more original to have hanging for all to see?

My boil-over anger today was finding how those naughty tenants had painted the ceilings and walls of three rooms without covering the wooden floors.  Absolutely nobody knows what a pain in the posterior it is to get dried paint splats off natural woodwork and floors.  I’m not even going to say how many hours I spent on just those two big rooms, but I’ll likely find myself falling asleep tonight counting paint splats.  My knees and back will sure to be smarting tomorrow.  There’s usually something about someone which causes us to remember them, and that tenant happened to have several quite visible warts.  I’m forgetting the warts and remembering those thousand splats.

So it looks like I’ll be spending another free day finishing what I’d expected to be finished.  On a positive note.  Those hours spent on my hands and knees in the solitude of those empty rooms, gave me time to let my mind wander.  Just as I was calling it quits for the day, I suddenly realized I’d thought about people that I’ve not seen hide nor hair of for likely 15 – 20 years, yet they were vivid in my mind.  There were two people we’ll call Dean and Sara, whom I’ve not spoken or even thought about for years. They were famous at the time for their tossed salads. I’m wondering if there are some sort of trace memories of residents who’ve moved away years ago still hovering about our City.

After spending so much time in that rental today, I’ve decided that if I ever have a home built, I’ll certainly insist on having 9 – 10 ceilings and really tall and elegantly crafted baseboards.  For whatever reason, I believe tall baseboards give rooms more definition.