Putinizing In An American Style

We were finally given a welcome reprieve today with there being little or no wind and cloudless skies. When talking with a customer of mine today, we both mentioned how much our trees and shrubs are behind with their budding stages when realizing we're only a little over a week away from it being the first of May. Enjoy this day as much as you can because it looks like rain is headed our way.

My morning appointment with a prospective seller went very well, and mostly because I had more than enough comparable sales pulled to share and review. I assured her that if it were even priced on the high end of those sales, it would sell quickly, and only because of it being one of those highly sought after properties which don't hit the market very often, and since we're still in the midst of dealing with frenzied home buyers, I'd wager we'll have multiple offers on it when listed.

We did have a nice chat about the "old days", along with bringing each other up to speed with the happenings in our lives since we'd last crossed paths. When talking about past happenings in our families, it was one more confirmation that there's almost always friction started once the last parent passes. It should give us all comfort whenever in such situations, by continuing to remember that such situations are happening to other families on a daily basis. I'd say our meeting ended up being the highlight of my day.

Since I had some time to kill, I decided to take a drive out into the countryside to see if I could find something photo-worthy while taking in our rural landscapes. I didn't have to go far to find an exceptionally old and a bit lonely native red cedar which in my estimation, being well over 125 years old, and only because of the size of its trunk. I dare say it's been many years since I'd seen one that big around. Keep in mind, Red Cedars are the only native evergreen trees to Iowa. I wouldn't be surprised if that tree was a youngster back in the 1880's because about twenty years ago, I sold a country home that had a half dozen of them planted in the front yard, and that home which is now gone, was built in the 1870's. The last time I drove past that property which is not far from Nora Springs, I found someone had cut all of them down and planted Spruce trees to replace them. Most think Red Cedars are ugly, but I still insist they have a rugged beauty all their own. Tonight's photo is the one I took of that tree.

I was not surprised when finding all the more calls for showings today, and likely due to the pleasant weather we're having. We also had an offer submitted on 804 N. Jackson which I'll be presenting to the seller in the morning. We've had a good flood of showings on it, so perhaps it will be sold before our weekend arrives.

I spoke with an agent who lives out West this afternoon, and it came as no surprise when hearing the median sale price of homes in her County is now at $900K. Seeing such price differences, it's giving some of those who're migrating to markets like ours in North Iowa, the idea that they're in a candy store with everything deeply discounted. It was confirmed again today when seeing a car with Texas plates on it, parked in the driveway of a recent sale which I thought went far higher than what a "native" would've paid. Well, seeing that car confirmed it.

While in store today, I happened to run into the now retired broker of a real estate company I worked for many years ago. We had a nice chat, and before we parted company, for the first time ever she said, "Back when you came to work with me, some of the other brokers said how lucky I was to have you because you would keep my business going in those tough years." Wow! That was a first out of her mouth. Like they say, "Sooner or later, the truth does come out." I have to give her credit for still having her marbles since she's well into her 90's and still driving.

I spent another hour clearing out more "stuff" from the conference room of my office where once again, I found piles of real estate papers which were no longer of any use, so?most of it went to the trash, and the rest sent to the shredder. After getting a good look at it today, I'll be spending another hour or two on that room before It's considered presentable.

For the sake of the democratic world, let's hope that Macron defeats that crazy right-winger who's "in bed" with Putin. If she gets elected, that's going to create a dangerous divide in the solidarity of the European Union, especially when it's the needed for Ukraine. When looking at the way in which the electoral system works in France, there are some features I wish we had here, and others I'm glad we don't. Someone said that if she loses this time, she can't run for President again.

I don't know about any of the rest of you, but I'm getting all these crazy political text messages of late from Trump's people, and today's was from his son. You can be sure I immediately deleted it and then blocked that number. These alt-right town criers who try to dupe our general public into believing all of their "fake" news, should be permanently shut down. I'm so glad we still have independent "fact" checkers who're publishing their findings. How can people live with themselves when knowing they're filling the minds of innocent people with their radical tripe? I'm pretty immune to any sort of Putinizing in an American style.

When reading the news today, I was glad to see our military in the process of sending Ukraine some of the most advanced weaponry which should help in pushing back those demonic Russian troops. Bombs away!

Tonight's One-liner is: Power itself does not corrupt, but rather fear corrupts...perhaps the fear of a loss of power.

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