It wasn’t such a bad day heat wise until mid-afternoon arrived. Thank goodness I had most of my out-of-office appointments taken care of before it got so hot. My last appointment took me to Manly on a showing which didn’t last very long. It was another one of those homes that looked far bigger to the buyers online than what it really was. Of course I felt it my duty to point out some of its deficiencies which would’ve gone un-noticed. It’s much better for a buyer to know as much about a house as possible before they make an offer, and then basically throw away $300-$400 on a home inspection which would reveal those structural issues. But then again, no matter how good a home inspector thinks he or she is, it takes many years of experience in selling homes in North Iowa which along the way gives a seasoned agent the “eye” to spot those tell-tale signs of lurking issues.
Most of my morning and early afternoon was spent out on pre-listing appointments. Both homes should sell more sooner than later due to their condition, qualities, size, and above all, location. The only things the sellers have to do is get their homes readied for sale. As we all know when it comes to presenting a home on the market, less is more. Those years of accumulating “stuff” suddenly become visible again once I make mention. We all develop blind eyes to our own accumulations until they’re pointed out by another.
There’s been more activity on Prairie Place once again, and I hope to have several more of them sold within these next 30 days. Every time I’m there, I have a wonderful feeling of being “grounded”. There’s no question in my mind it’s the best of the best new build-outs on North Iowa. I continue to remind people that the Good Shepherd did not build those units to make money, but rather to complete their circle of care. There’ve been several buyers I’ve worked with these past months who’ve shown interest, but likely believe they’re not ready for senior condo living. Believe me, as we grow older, the years fly by all the faster to where by the time we think we’re ready to make the move, it’s already too late, because more than likely an assisted living environment is where we’ll more likely belong. The sad part about it is many internally regret not having made their lifestyle changes all the sooner.
Someone asked me today what the market has been like. All I could say was, “These past several years have been the quirkiest I’ve seen in a very long time, because I’ve found good homes that are priced right, sitting on the market longer than those over-priced and inferior ones that’ve been “lipsticked”. I went on to fully blame the internet, social medias, and our televisions that have slowly scraped away the abilities of most to envision and/or create. I personally know people who’ve wasted thousands of precious hours passively watching some sort of media screen. There’s no trial and error learning, and absolutely no willingness to jump head-first into something that creates or improves. Before changing the subject I said, “Because of the speed in which the computer age is evolving, I’m not so sure where it’s all going to end, and my greatest fear is that many have no clue as to what the long term negative ramifications we’ll be faced with which we will likely not be able correct for generations. Now that’s something to think about.
More heat is forecasted for tomorrow, so keep your bottles of water handy.
Tonight’s one-liner is: You cannot permanently help people by doing for them what they could and should be doing for themselves.
