Greetings to you all!
July comes to a close and I am writing this on the very last day. I usually write on the last day of the month but usually in the morning since I am a morning person. I was lured by desire to the golf course this morning. With the ever present threat of rain in recent days, it has been hard to get out (not to mention my schedule) I haven’t swung a club since vacation, almost a month ago, and I need to get some rust off for our Rotary Memorial Golf Tournament on Friday. I have found that there is a fine line between a poor and a mediocre game, so too, between a mediocre and a decent game, and too, decent and good. I aspire to the metric beyond good but a man’s grasp should exceed his reach or what’s a heaven for? In this, I have been successful, but heaven will wait, today I was poor. That being said, I just want to not embarrass myself. Since it is a scramble format, I can hit enough decent shots to help (I hope for, at least mediocre) and I never play for the prizes, just the fun.
The Market
I find myself repeating myself every month. Sales numbers remain low but not due to demand. The inventories remain low and competition for well priced properties is strong. Rates have edged up with 30 year fixed rates at 4.875%. Homes in ranges over 200k or 250k seem to be more plentiful and I am seeing a good number of homes coming on the market over the 400K range. I hate to admit that I have a hard time fathoming just the taxes on some of those properties. The monthly tax bill exceed most folks mortgage payments! Anticipate the trends to continue, both the rising rates and lack of inventory.
Prince and Princess Report
We are so blessed with such wonderful grand kids who are so close by. We have shared “pool days” with all and sometimes just some of the grand kids. Rosie and Annabelle, in particular, so enjoy being together. It is a joy to watch. Annie is a good role model for Rosie and Rosie does look up to her. Ben and Jimmy both like the water and by next year will be sporting the water wings and moving about independently. The girls are fearless as they have taken off the wings and experimented with swimming just short little jaunts from the steps to the arms of Uma. Annie can actually float on her back quite well and by next season, likely be swimming like Claire and Leo. In a week or so Uma and Pampy are off with Claire and Leo on an excursion to Rehoboth for a few days. Uma has declared we will be at the beach at least 2 days (weather permitting). Leo would spend all his time (and all my money!) at the arcades. We have to limit that, but I do owe Leo some miniature golf that has been promised since his birthday. We have a birthday party scheduled for Bennie’s 1st on this coming Sunday. Just had Jimmy’s just the end of last month. Still a lot of summer to go and looking forward to more kid time!
Home Front New
I hope you all escaped the flood waters last week! Austin and Olga were not so fortunate. They had 2 ½ feet in their basement. We should have known to prepare but hindsight is easy. They lost some furniture and some personal “stuff”, kids toys and some videos but the washer, dryer and water heater were spared! Many came to help. The waters came in at 2am and receded by 9am on Tuesday morning. By 2pm all moved out, washed out squeegeed and drying. All in all, it could have been much worse.
I must report that the Durango has had some bodywork done and it looks pretty good. Some finishing work to still be done and the rocker panels on both sides need some work. Since I have no garage I can do this work in, I am at the mercy of the weather. I will need at least 2 days of dry to get that work done.As you might imagine, the garage still a mess with the tools for the bodywork still out along with some paint “stuff”. Martha has been dressing up some much needed areas. I have re-seated the upstairs handrail that has been loose for quite a while. Three new anchors at the top and 3 at to bottom. Sorry to report, one top anchor didn’t take. Still secure, may pump some gorilla glue!
Until next time,
