baymule
Garden Master
DH and I had agreed it was time to enlist a real estate agent to sell our house. He called one, a good friend of his and all we needed to do was to set an appointment for her to come by. Over the last weekend, unknown to each of us, we both said prayers about selling our house. Yesterday morning, DH and I were discussing things and he decided to call Billy. Billy is the contractor who gutted the master bedroom and bathroom and remodeled it 3 years ago so my mother could move in with us after her stroke. (she is now in assisted living)
A couple of months ago, Billy had told us his uncle was looking for investment properties, but uncle worked out of town a lot and was hardly ever home. So DH calls Billy and asked him if his uncle was interested. Billy replied yes and we are on our way over there right now. We already had an inspector give us a report, plus Billy knows this house, knows what needs to be done to it and has our confidence and his uncle's confidence.
Billy and his uncle, we'll call him Tom, arrived and Billy showed him the house. DH and I just sat that one out. Tom asked us a few questions, but mainly we all just got acquainted with Tom, visited a lot, BS'ed a lot and just in general, everybody talking a lot. After about 30 minutes of that, DH point blank asked Tom to make an offer. Tom went silent a moment, then shot us a low-balled offer. "Don't insult my intelligence" was DH's reply. We all laughed and went back to visiting. Another 20 or 30 minutes went by and DH said, "Ok, back to the house, here's what I'll do...." and he counter offered. Tom, Billy and DH hashed out a few details and Tom replied that was fair and he took DH's offer. DH told him, "All I want is your word, your word is good enough for me." The two men stood up, crossed the room and shook hands on the deal. It was like watching a moment in history, when a man's word meant something. Tom and my DH are both well known older men in the community, reputation is everything. Two members of a dying breed, their handshake is stronger than any signature on a piece of paper. Well known, upright, strong men whose word is their bond.
We all visited for a couple of hours, Tom has a personal issue to deal with and will pay cash for the house in about a month and a half. That gives us plenty of time to finish preparing the house we bought, for us to move in it, plus build at least enough fence to contain our horses. We can move at our leisure and don't have to be in a mad rush.
On the way out the door, here again, in true Southern fashion, we walked our guests to the door, everybody yakking all the way, and they spied DH's behemoth gun cabinet. I hate it. It takes up an entire wall, it is huge, it's locked all over the place, can't open any door without going through all sorts of PITA unlock this to get to that......just give up and break the stupid glass. In my world, you don't display guns, you hide them in the closet and only privileged people even know you have any, besides the .22 you have hanging above the door you grab on your way out to shoot varmits.
Anyway, their eyes lit up and they veered off in that direction. I complained about it and said it wasn't going to fit in our new house. Not only that, but my pride and joy oak dining table, chairs and china cabinet wasn't going to fit either. Tom was interested. DH took Tom to our bedroom, where our gorgeous southwest solid wood bedroom set wasn't going to fit in our new house either, the upshot being that Tom also bought our furniture.
A deal done on a handshake, no paper, no earnest money, just the word of two proud men. We are at peace with it. God answered our prayers.
A couple of months ago, Billy had told us his uncle was looking for investment properties, but uncle worked out of town a lot and was hardly ever home. So DH calls Billy and asked him if his uncle was interested. Billy replied yes and we are on our way over there right now. We already had an inspector give us a report, plus Billy knows this house, knows what needs to be done to it and has our confidence and his uncle's confidence.
Billy and his uncle, we'll call him Tom, arrived and Billy showed him the house. DH and I just sat that one out. Tom asked us a few questions, but mainly we all just got acquainted with Tom, visited a lot, BS'ed a lot and just in general, everybody talking a lot. After about 30 minutes of that, DH point blank asked Tom to make an offer. Tom went silent a moment, then shot us a low-balled offer. "Don't insult my intelligence" was DH's reply. We all laughed and went back to visiting. Another 20 or 30 minutes went by and DH said, "Ok, back to the house, here's what I'll do...." and he counter offered. Tom, Billy and DH hashed out a few details and Tom replied that was fair and he took DH's offer. DH told him, "All I want is your word, your word is good enough for me." The two men stood up, crossed the room and shook hands on the deal. It was like watching a moment in history, when a man's word meant something. Tom and my DH are both well known older men in the community, reputation is everything. Two members of a dying breed, their handshake is stronger than any signature on a piece of paper. Well known, upright, strong men whose word is their bond.
We all visited for a couple of hours, Tom has a personal issue to deal with and will pay cash for the house in about a month and a half. That gives us plenty of time to finish preparing the house we bought, for us to move in it, plus build at least enough fence to contain our horses. We can move at our leisure and don't have to be in a mad rush.
On the way out the door, here again, in true Southern fashion, we walked our guests to the door, everybody yakking all the way, and they spied DH's behemoth gun cabinet. I hate it. It takes up an entire wall, it is huge, it's locked all over the place, can't open any door without going through all sorts of PITA unlock this to get to that......just give up and break the stupid glass. In my world, you don't display guns, you hide them in the closet and only privileged people even know you have any, besides the .22 you have hanging above the door you grab on your way out to shoot varmits.
Anyway, their eyes lit up and they veered off in that direction. I complained about it and said it wasn't going to fit in our new house. Not only that, but my pride and joy oak dining table, chairs and china cabinet wasn't going to fit either. Tom was interested. DH took Tom to our bedroom, where our gorgeous southwest solid wood bedroom set wasn't going to fit in our new house either, the upshot being that Tom also bought our furniture.
A deal done on a handshake, no paper, no earnest money, just the word of two proud men. We are at peace with it. God answered our prayers.
We just don't get in a hurry....
