Chapter 11

Jason Dorsey was a young man who had strong opinions on many subjects, one of which was why a person goes to college. It was his opinion that when you graduate from college you should be able to say you are qualified to work in a specific position and not just say you have a degree. He would give engineers, architects, and teachers as examples of what he meant in saying that. In Jason’s case, he had graduated from the School of Business at UT Austin with an accounting degree. After passing a comprehensive test, he was awarded the CPA designation.

In working at an accounting firm for two years, he developed another strong opinion which was that he did not want to work anymore doing someone’s taxes. He wanted to do something other than that, and maybe at the same time see some of the world. Doing financial auditing would be something different and it would enable him to do some traveling and not be deskbound. Jason noticed the listing at UT’s job placement office from KAR Enterprises that said they were looking to hire an outside auditor.

Jason applied for this position at KAR which he could see was a small business operation judging by the size of the office and the number of people he saw working there. After being interviewed he was told that they had decided to go with an experienced auditor applicant to fill the auditing position. Jason must have impressed someone because he was asked if he would be interested in being trained to work in the property procurement side of this business. This interested him since it was said doing it would involve a considerable amount of traveling.

After an interview with Ralph Granger, who was the investment manager for this company, Jason was hired. Jason was told that he would initially be trained by Paul Roman who was very experienced in doing property procurement. Jason’s starting salary was more than what he was making at the accounting firm.

Working for this small and expanding business was interesting and satisfying. All of the employees including Kevin Reeves, “The Boss Man” as Jason referred to him, were nice and friendly. The oldest employee was Paul Roman who was training Jason. It didn’t take Jason long to acknowledge Paul’s expertise and that Paul was generous and effective in sharing his knowledge with Jason.

Their territory for making these property purchases encompassed all of the country which resulted in Paul and Jason doing quite a bit of traveling. For some unknown reason when Paul was going to the East Coast, he would go there alone. Paul would give Jason a list of properties to evaluate for purchase that were generally located in the mid-west. Jason never thought that this was unusual nor did he question why Paul was going out to the East Coast alone. He was proud that Paul and KAR had the confidence in him to have him check out properties on his own.

These assignments Jason was given initially started with him checking out small apartment buildings or apartment complexes consisting of twelve to twenty-four units that were cash flow positive. Jason was surprised to learn that employees could invest along with KAR in all the properties that KAR purchased. The down payment requirements were easier for the employees to make if they wanted to invest in these smaller apartment buildings. The company looked for what could be called bargains in these types of properties that after, “putting some lipstick on them,” they would in a few years consider listing these properties for sale. Those funds from the sale would then be used to purchase other properties. The company and the invested employees would be the beneficiaries of this buying and selling.

Jason in looking at these properties most of the time was in the company of a realtor. He would apply Paul’s technique of asking the realtor what other properties were available for purchase that could interest him. These could be larger properties and not just apartment buildings. Medical buildings, warehouses, farmland, and undeveloped land, were the types of properties Jason told the realtor he was interested in. His asking a realtor about other properties indicated to the realtors that Jason was a motivated buyer and that they would contact him when a property came on the market that they thought would interest him.

Jason received a call from a realtor who told him that a large section of land had just been listed for sale because of an estate needing to be settled. This land totaled some eighteen hundred acres of which twelve hundred acres could be leased out for farming. The remaining six hundred acres were hilly and contained a six-acre lake. There was a house located on this property that could be rented out. The price of this property the realtor said was less per acre than what this type of property had sold for in the past because of the heirs needing to settle an estate.

After checking out recent comparable sales and this property’s location along with the house, Jason made a phone call to Paul and then to Ralph telling them about this property. Jason recommended they purchase this property. Because of where this property was located, housing could be built there in the coming years.

Both Paul and Ralph told Jason to make an offer to purchase the property with Paul telling him what additional items and contingencies he needed to include in the offer to purchase contract. That was done and with consideration given to the realtor’s suggestion as to price, an offer to purchase was made and accepted. The realtor knew of someone in the vicinity who would lease the farmland and said they would not have any problems finding someone who would rent or maybe purchase the house.

In going back to the office, Jason was a happy camper because of this purchase. He was also having some thoughts about his social life. He did have a minor concern about how he was doing regarding his dealings with the opposite sex. He had some hookups while in school, but he currently didn’t have anything going on with any specific female. He just would keep his eyes open in the hope he could find a lady and develop a relationship with her.

Walking into the first-floor lobby of the office building where KAR was headquartered, Jason noticed a fellow standing there waiting for the elevator that looked familiar. Jason in a raised voice said “Brad Dorish” and this fellow turned around and saw it was Jason who had said his name. Walking up to Jason he extended his hand and said it had been a long time since he had seen him.

When Jason was a freshman at UT, Brad was a senior. They both were in the same fraternity together and Jason knew that Brad after graduation was going to go to law school. They were having a conversation about what was going on in their lives when an attractive woman entered the lobby and walked past them going into an elevator.

Brad could see Jason’s eyes following this woman which had him say, “You are not alone in looking at her and I assume having those carnal thoughts. She is an attorney at the law firm I work at. We call her the “Ice Queen.” Because of her good looks, she gets hit on quite a bit and she repels all the men who hit on her. She is single, but she wears a wedding ring to help her brush off these men. I have to get going to the office, but why don’t we stop after work one day and have a beer and catch up.”