Chapter 10: Engaged?

Summer turned into autumn, autumn into winter, and winter into spring. Mel, Joy and I lived in an unbelievably comfortable relationship for those months. Angry words or miffed feelings were rare. The tone of our relationship was pure Love in everything we said and did for and with each other.

Both girls were sophomores and I was a graduating senior. We each had our classes and homework, yet found time to be together and to play together as well as pursue friends and even lovers.

Not unexpectedly, Mel went on a number of ‘dates’, not all of them sexual. She was looking for chemistry, and was disappointed more than not. She gave me an ego boost by praising our relationship and most likely overpowering any other chemistry she might question.

Joy made three trips to Atlanta to be with Tyler. When she talked about chemistry, I realized that there was more than just a little going on between them.

At the urging of the girls, I also went on a few dates. Patti was still hot to see me frequently, so we got to know each other a lot better. I had the advantage of being able to bring her back to one of the empty furnished apartments for our lovemaking sessions. She was impressed and I was able to avoid conflicts with Mel or Joy. Patti still rated herself as in the ‘fuck buddy’ stage of our relationship, and that worked fine.

Of course, we all continued to work part-time at the apartment complex where we lived. Some weeks we were able to spend more time doing that than others. My job as the property manager for the apartment complex we lived in got better and better throughout the year. The complex had 108 apartments and most were rented to upper class or graduate students at the nearby university.

By the end of that first summer, after Mel rejoined our threesome, we’d refinished or simply repainted twenty-one of the units, making major structural improvements in only a few and cleaning, repainting, and redecorating the others. The three of us had found some ways to make most the units more appealing either by removing some of the walls or using half walls or just by decorating and using attractive color schemes. Occupancy rates increased due to our work. Jim Reynolds the Property Manager for our complex as well as a many other units around Columbus, praised our ideas and encouraged us to make the changes.

Joy, Mel and I were a good team. Somehow, when we worked together it made the whole experience fun and not at all like a ‘job’. Even better, at Christmas time, Jim gave us all generous bonuses and more praise for our work. He called us ‘naturals’ at property management and encouraged us to stay and work as we went through the spring and following summer. Our grades stayed up, yet we were making a lot of money, in part because Jim comped us the rent on our apartment.

I was due to graduate in early June and over the winter started to think about what I’d do after college with an undergraduate business degree. In hindsight, I had the balls to think I really knew something about something. Later, I learned how little I knew about anything. At least I was then motivated to do something about it.

In any case, I mentioned my needing a permanent job to Jim Reynolds one day. A week later, he invited me to lunch with another older gentleman name Carson Steele. I liked the new man’s name even before I met the CEO from the Steele Property and Real Estate Investment Trust that owned all the properties Jim managed and many others with other PMs. They called the company SPT for short.

Jim made the introductions and then surprised me with his opening statement; “Doug, we’d like to make you an offer to start working for Steele Properties Trust when you graduate. You’d start as my assistant and gradually take over my job completely as I focus on new property acquisitions and construction projects.”

I stammered and stuttered a bit; the job offer came out of the blue and caught me completely by surprise. I thought the dinner would be some kind of informal performance review, and I was confident we’d done pretty well. I even thought they might give me another bonus of some kind.

Jim took my hesitance to speak as resistance to his idea, so he started to sweeten the deal immediately. Carson nodded encouragingly to him and commented to me about how well I was thought of in ‘headquarters’ and how my name and all the work we’d done with the units caught everyone’s attention and commanded higher rents, higher occupancies, and a better class of tenants.

Jim went on, “We’d start you at $62,000 a year, plus your continued free rent in the open unit of your choice. You could keep the unit you’re living in now; you seem comfortable with your roommates and coworkers in that unit.”

I was still silent – mind blown at what was going on, actually. Jim continued with some new bait: “Further, there’s a signing bonus of $10,000, a new pick-up truck that you’ll need for the job, and a yearly bonus that will depend on the overall occupancy rates of the units you’re in charge of; if you create a high occupancy rate at high rental rates you get a higher bonus. You get the idea. This could double your salary. Oh, there’s medical, matching 401k plan, vacation time, and stuff like that that you’ll like.”

I finally nodded slowly as I started to take in the benefits of the offer. I still hadn’t said anything.

Carson jumped into the conversation trying to sweeten the deal further, “We’ll also give you a half-unit in the Steele Property Trust each year to sweeten the deal. Right now that’s probably worth about twenty grand, plus it’ll give you all sorts of tax advantages the year you get the share and in future years as the various depreciation options kick in.”

I asked slowly, “And my duties would be?”

Carson replied, “Oh, you’d be the property manager for twenty of the properties that the Steele Properties Trust owns. You’d oversee the upkeep and renovation of all the properties, inside and out – just what Jim’s been doing overall and it’s just what you’re doing now with your crew down at Oakside, but for twenty properties instead of the one. You’d be responsible for finding, hiring and checking on individuals like you’ve been at each site. Overall, there are around 1,800 apartment units in these twenty sites.”

“Could I move staff between sites? Is that allowed? How big a staff would I have?”

“Oh, most certainly you could move people around; anyway you’d like to manage them. You’d be the boss. My guess is you’ll have about twenty or thirty people working for you – at least, some part time and some full time depending on how many units are in the renovation stage. Of course, our idea is to keep costs low and revenues high, not to mention occupancy rates; so if you can figure a way to do more with fewer people, for instance by moving them around, then so much the better.”

After some further banter about the job I asked for a written job offer. Both men smiled and assured me I’d have it within forty-eight hours. I also asked that I have a week or so to think about the offer and talk about with my ‘partners’; the men agreed. The lunch was very cordial and I felt comfortable with these guys as my bosses and in the stability of the company.

Further, I liked the work I was doing and liked the idea of expanding my role in property management. Lastly, the idea of not having to search any further for employment offered all sorts of benefits to me. I could be intellectually lazy at times.

I talked the offer over with Joy and Mel and we all ended up doing a little celebratory dance in the middle of our bed – naked, of course. The new job would be a huge leap from what I was doing now and I feared I might not be up to the task. I raised my feelings with Jim one day and he assured me that he, Carson and the others in the company would all be there to coach me along into the new job. They wanted me to succeed and also knew about the leap I’d be making. “We won’t hang you out to dry in a ‘sink or swim’ way, Doug. Trust us. We want you and we want success, and we think that’s the right mix.”

I took the job.

Unlike the summer before, Joy and Mel stayed in Columbus most of the time to work on the various apartment complexes that I took over. Both were skilled decorators by that time, often drawing on art department courses they’d just taken to enhance their contributions. They were also studying the area at an enthusiastic rate. Further, I was able to pay them at a good rate with Jim’s approval; perhaps I was biased but I really valued their work. He did too.

Half the apartment complexes I took over already had onsite managers that seemed to be doing acceptable work. That meant I needed up to ten new people to fill the gap for the other ten properties. After I studied the turnover and occupancy rates, I felt I could make do with only a couple more if they handled multiple complexes. I tried my idea with two new hires and it worked well and saved many thousands of dollars for Steele Property Trust or SPT. I gradually worked the same scheme across all the units, sweeting the deal for an existing PM with a good raise; that was much less expensive than hiring a new PM and getting them up to speed.

I also created specialized work crews, often using cheap labor from the local campus as often as I could. I favored the engineers for electrical and plumbing work even helping them get licensed. I created a couple of painting crews as well, even finding two skilled crews amongst the student body. The latter took instruction from Joy or Mel about colors and detail work. Then I cut some deals with local landscapers to dress up the drab landscapes at some of the properties.

One of the complexes I took over looked like a prison. Mel, Joy and I sat with the property manager in the courtyard of the place one summer day trying to visualize what we could do to improve the looks of the place without breaking the bank. By the end of the afternoon we had a list of ideas. The following week, I rolled the painting crew in with instructions about how to paint various panels on the outside porches of the units in contrasting pastel colors. The next week, the landscape crew rolled in and added two-dozen hedge maples around the property, as well as dozens of other new plants. We added a simple playground and a picnic area with multiple tables.

The place was transformed. Units that had sat vacant for months suddenly rented. Occupancy went from only seventy percent to one hundred percent by the time school started six weeks later. We’d recouped the investments I’d made in only a month from the additional rents.

Carson Steele and Jim Reynolds met me and the PM at the reworked complex one-day for a walk around – my ‘show and tell’ time. They were very pleased executives and were vocal in their praise. Just before we parted company, Carson handed me a ‘special bonus’ check of $2,000. I was speechless.

I used part of the money and threw a party for all the work crews I’d hired. We had a great blast with lots of beer and a catered barbeque right in the center of the reworked apartment complex. Girlfriends and wives were invited. We had a DJ and even some laser lights and catered food. The whole shebang cost me $1,000 and I think I got about $50,000 extra work from all the crews in the following months.

I encouraged idea sharing and creativity across the crews and the PM’s for the various complexes. I got us all together once a month to talk about common problems and solutions. I moved people around so they could see the other properties, and give and get ideas about what to do where they were mainly focused. Great ideas at one site started to show up everywhere. Occupancy went up and stayed up.

By Christmas, I felt I was rolling along in my job and starting to find my sea legs. While I was in the main offices downtown one December day, Carson presented me with another special bonus of $15,000. “Doug, you are revolutionizing how this firm does business. You’re saving us thousands and increasing occupancies with happy tenants wherever you go. You’ll get your full regular bonus without question the way you’re going. We’re all very proud of you.”

As I left the high-rise offices, I stopped at a jewelry shop in the lobby of the high rise and bought two matching diamond rings – one for Mel and one for Joy. Over the many months we’d gone together, I’d fallen deeper and deeper in love with both women. I’d been looking for something akin to an engagement ring but hadn’t found anything suitable, thus I finally just settled on the rings and figured I’d let the girls figure out what to call them. My sister assured me that diamonds never disappoint either the giver or the receiver.