(Radio Iowa) – The housing market in Iowa continues to be strong with bidding wars, and realtors struggling to find houses for their buyers. Iowa Association of Realtors president, Jen Burkamper of Ames, says that issue hasn’t dampened interest in the profession. “No, actually we make it look easy — so everybody wants to get in,” Burkamper says. She says more people have joined the realtor ranks in the past couple of years.

“At the Iowa Association of Realtors we just broke eight-thousand-members,” Burkamper says. “In my 21 years we’ve always ranged around that 78-hundred, 77-hundred, and we just broke eight-thousand members.” Burkamper says the pandemic has had a lot to do with the increase. “With the changes in jobs and unemployment and everything in the pandemic, I think it’s caused people to want to get into this industry,” she says.

Burkamper says quick sales and higher selling prices may draw people to the business — but she says you have to be ready for the long haul. “It looks easy when things are selling quickly, but they don’t see all the work involved in what that takes,” according to Burkamper. She says Iowa is a good place overall to be a real estate agent. “We are pretty steady — we’re not like the coasts where you have high fluctuations and then you have high drops — we sit pretty steady,” Burkamper says. “So as long as you are on top of your game and doing what you need to do, you are probably not going to see a problem in sales. You’ve got to work hard.”

Burkamper calls the most recent market the craziest she’s seen in her career, and expects things will eventually return back to a more normal situation.

Two people were injured in separate Adair County accidents, Wednesday. The Iowa State Patrol reports 22-year-old Jeffrey Kempf, of Harrison, Ohio, suffered minor injuries when the semi he was driving struck a cable barrier, overturned and came to rest in the median. The crash happened on Interstate 80 eastbound about two-miles west of Stuart, at around 7:30-a.m.  Authorities say Kempf was driving a 2020 Freightliner when he fell asleep at the wheel.

The second accident happened at around 12:20-p.m. on I-80 eastbound about a mile east of the Menlo exit. The Patrol says a 2018 Ford Transit Van driven by 57-year-old Tammy Brock, of Cleveland, OH, and a 2004 Ford E-450 driven by 57-year-old Lee McCleary, of Vernon, AZ, were traveling eastbound near mile marker 89, as traffic was slowing to accommodate a lane closure near mile marker 91.

A 2011 Honda CRV being towed behind the Ford was struck by the van. Both vehicles came to rest in the right lane of I-80 at about the 89.6 mile marker. Tammy Brock was transported by Stuart Rescue to Iowa Methodist in Des Moines. Adair County Sheriff’s Deputies, Stuart Rescue and Adair Rescue assisted at the scene.

The injured drivers in both accidents were wearing their seat belts.

Recipient/Projects/Total Project cost (TPC)/Match Amount  in this area include:

• Adair: Old Macs Grill Redevelopment (total project cost: $221,400; local match $121,400)
• Coon Rapids: 517 Main Renovation & Development ($230,900; $130,900)
• Creston: Creston “You Are Beautiful” Building ($217,099; $117,099)
• Neola: 101 4th Street Building Project ($388,450; $288,450)
• Stuart: Hotel Stuart/Black Swan Developers, LLC ($260,000; $160,00).

• Converting the historic Tierney Building in Waukon into a restaurant
• Transforming the former Irish Hospital Building in Forest City into eight apartment units
• Restoring a vacant iconic building in Centerville into a commercial wellness studio and eight loft-style apartments

Two arrests were reported from over the past week, in Harlan. On Friday, 33-year-old Tamara Leigh Dryer, of Harlan, was arrested on an active Shelby County warrant. Dryer was transported to the Shelby County Jail.

And, on Monday, 27-year-old Cody Allan Segebart, of Denison, was arrested following an accident investigation. Segebart was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with driving a non-registered vehicle and driving while suspended.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA–A Council Bluffs man was sentenced on Tuesday, June 29, 2021, by United States District Court Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger to 41 months in prison for felon and drug user in possession of a firearm. The prison term is to be followed by three years of supervised release.

According to court documents, Garrett Duane Hanika, age 33, of Council Bluffs, was attempting to elude officers and speeding — 60 mph in a 35 mph zone — down the center turn lanes on Broadway in Council Bluffs until he crashed the vehicle and attempted to run. Hanika was apprehended and a loaded Bryco Amrs, Model 48, .380 caliber pistol was found in his car.

Acting United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Council Bluffs Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case.