I was in near shock to find it evolving into one of the most beautiful of pre-Fall days to where I went to work finding as much to keep me outdoors as possible. One of my long-term clients stopped in just to say “hello” since I’d not seen him since the closing of a home he sold back in March. His family has done business with my office for a number of years with their buying, fixing up, and re-selling. They do exceptionally good work to the point where I don’t even worry about getting any after closing call-back complaints from buyers.
He asked if I had anything worth looking at in need of upgrading, and the first home that came to mind was 321 S. Carolina here in Mason City. I know he was just making small talk when the question was asked, but after I began describing it, his interest was piqued to the point of asking if I had time to show it to him. I did, so off we went for a quick viewing. I knew he’d be impressed by it, because of how particular he is with his own finish work. While still there longer than I’d expected, it was confirmed of having every reason to sell because it passed his thorough inspection. Having known of the contractor who built it at the time, I’m sure his exceptionally demanding German-like perfectionist skills were put to full use. For being a mid-century ranch of 65 years, I’d say it’s remained sturdy and strong with nearly no signs of wear or age. As we were driving away I laughed while saying, “You trick this one out, and you’ll put all our market’s flippers to shame who’re busy smearing “lipstick on pigs”.
We walked all around the house and found zero cracks in the brick and mortar lines. Even the brick window sills appeared as if they’d just been installed. While in the garage, he made mention how the concrete floor not having even one crack in it. Now just think how many garage floors of far newer homes we’ve been in that have glaring cracks. Yes, I’d say the man who built that home was a master. One of the neighbors has been hoping for a young couple with children, but I’m personally profiling its new owner to be an older single person or couple who’re moving out of a two story just to get away from steps.
The third bedroom in it could easily be turned into a laundry/work room which would give no reason for any necessary visits to the basement. I did mention to my client that if we don’t get an offer on it this next week, I’m going to ask the seller to get rid of the furniture and existing carpet so to expose its original oak floors. There’s no doubt they’re in perfect condition.
When near lunchtime and driving back to the Downtown on East State Street, I noticed St. Paul Lutheran was having a salad luncheon which was open to the public. Since it’s one of my favorite churches in Mason City, I decided to stop and have salad for lunch.
To my delight, there were a great number of people there which made me happy for them because their congregation is one I consider to be “under the radar” of being what could, and should be a vibrant community of Faith filled to its rafters with young and old every single Sunday. Even more of a surprise, they didn’t have the meal priced. The sign simply read, “Free will donation”. You can be sure when seeing that, my billfold was all the more generous. When I walked to the serving table, I became wide-eyed when seeing how many different bowls of salad were being offered. There must have been between 18 and 20 bowls of every kind of salad you could imagine.
If my mother who was very particular about food were still alive and with me, even she would’ve said, “How the heck did they manage to do this?” There were so many choices to where I found it difficult to choose, so I just looked, grabbed a serving spoon and helped myself. After a good scoop of four different types that looked yummy, off I went to find an open chair.
As chance would have it, I found one at table where two of the owners of Prairie Place were seated, along with one of the members of St. Paul. We all had a good chat while we ate, and after having eaten everything that was exceptionally tasty on my plate, I said to one of the ladies, “I’ll be sure to watch for the next meal you’ll be serving because this was a very good lunch.”
Before I left, I noticed all the more people I recognized, so I stopped and said a few words. While walking out, I complimented one of the organizers by saying, “How did you manage to have so many different yet tasty servings?” She winked at me and said, “We all made our husbands prepare two different types of salads to bring today.” I guess I was a wee bit slow getting the jest of her response.
My top priority tomorrow is to get a home listed in Manly which is unique enough for North Iowa that I’m hoping it sells quickly. As I mentioned several days ago, it’s got a big yard which many young families are looking for, and should have it posted online some time tomorrow afternoon. Let’s hope for another perfect day tomorrow!
Tonight’s one-liner is: When I was a kid, my parents moved a lot, and thank goodness I always managed to find them.
