Chapter 18

After all the purchases and commitments to Ron and others, I stopped by for a meeting with my CPA. Adam Hershfeld sat behind his desk as I walked into his office. He looked up and shook his head. “It’s good to see you, Bull.”

“I hope I can say the same when we’re done with the meeting, Adam.”

“I think you will. I look at you at your age and think that you may be king midas incarnate.”

“That does sound good. Where should we start?”

“The buildings you own are doing well. The rents and profits from the club, restaurants, apartments and commercial tenants bring in much more than it’s taking in taxes, maintenance, salaries and insurance. You don’t spend one percent of the income in any given month. The properties you’re buying are appraising at almost double the purchase price. The insurance companies are putting payouts at almost four times the costs.”

“We did get a good deal on them.”

“I’ll say. Your investment portfolio over at E.J. Patterson is doing over 50% for the year when the market is only doing 20%, Only 20% that alone is a crazy number. They’ve been making a lot of short term trades to hit those numbers but even after taxes, you’re doing well.”

“I want to add more to that account. I think they have their finger on the pulse of the market and I like what I see. Before we do that, Ron, the builder that I’m in the CPS building with, wants to partner on a few properties around town and borrow against some others that he will own alone.”

“I know you have some funds that are still offshore but unless you are looking at nine digit investments you should be fine. The value of the property should be more than enough collateral to cover the loans. How much do you want to move into the trading account from the money market?”

“I think another 20 would be a good move. It would help me diversify and like you said, I don’t need the cash to live on.”

“I’ll move the funds for the stock account. I’ll get with the attorney to write up the paperwork for a loan and LLC with Ron. We can fill in the numbers later. Is there anything else we need to cover?”

“I was looking at all the properties that are going into the pool of bank owned foreclosures from the tax changes. Your building is on the list. I didn’t buy it but if you wanted to own the building you could collect the rent and pay off the loan.”

“I don’t have that kind of money laying around.”

“When you have the attorney write up the loan document for Ron, have him write one up for you. I’m trying to diversify a little and bonds or loans are an area I’m not really big on.”

He smiled and walked around his desk. He stuck out his hand to shake. “Bull, I just told you it was a good investment for Ron and I have better credit than him. I’ll take you up on your offer.”

We shook hands and I thought that he may have shed a tear as he walked back behind his desk. I said, “If you want to do any renovations add that to the loan. I’ll send over the name of the bank and contact person as well as the price I would offer if it was me. You know what the rent is and you can walk the building to see if there are any vacant spaces.”

He was smiling as I left his office. I was pretty happy myself. My next meeting was with my contact at E.J. Patterson. Heather had been watching my investments for me and was in contact with Adam, my CPA and would call from time to time. E.J. Patterson had developed a software program to help time when to buy and when to sell different investments and their returns showed that it worked. I was young and had a big income. This put me in a position to turn it up a notch and take more risks. Heather told me that she would be watching it every day and would be moving things as the program directed her. She only managed a small part of my net worth even though it was a lot of money. She was given the freedom to roll the dice as she saw fit.

It was a Friday morning that I woke up and was doing my sit-ups when a thought hit me that made me stop. I was in a city of millions but was all alone. I wasn’t having a panic attack but it was like someone pointing out that you had a spot on your shirt that you didn’t know was there. I was 20 years old and had taken a risk as a juvenile that was supposed to give me some working capital to start my adult life. Through circumstances and relationships, It had blown up into a fortune. I could realistically retire and live off of my investments. At the same time, most of my friends, associates and employees were all considerably older than I was. I wasn’t unhappy but needed to make some changes.

Later that day, I was over at the CPS building. The hotel, restaurant and spa were all open and there were a number of timeshare units sold and a number being used by potential buyers. I was going to go up to the 120th floor and look at the space. I had a key card that would allow the elevator to stop on that floor. I walked around the huge space with the twenty foot ceilings to see if I liked one view over another or wanted to just build out the entire floor as a future home. The taxes would be crazy but it would be fun. It was getting late, almost dinner time when I decided to head down and get some food.

The elevator stopped at the 65th floor. This was part of the time share. Floors 60-69 were timeshare,20-29 were the hotel, four was the restaurant and spa, five was the private spa and restaurant. A young woman got on the elevator. She looked and saw the fourth floor was lit up and didn’t press a button. I said, “I was going to have some food, would you like to join me in the private dining room?”

She was ready to decline my offer but then looked me up and down and said, “Sure.”

Holding my keycard to the pad, I pressed 5R. This is designed to open the rear elevator doors and is normally used for the cleaning staff but we wanted only those that both knew about the private area and had access to the private area to have access. When the doors opened on the fifth floor, she and I stepped out. The bar was pretty empty since not too many people knew about the place. We walked over to a booth in the bar area and sat down. I said, “My name is Bull, this is the private dining room or bar. Not too many people know about it yet so it isn’t very crowded.”

“My name is Hu Ping. We’re staying in one of the units upstairs for the week.”

“You look young. Are you here working or just visiting?”

“My mother comes to New York a couple times a year to shop and brings me along. She heard about this new building from her travel agent and she got a good deal for the week if she would listen to a sales presentation. I think she bought two weeks of the time share. The rooms are like apartments and The views are amazing.”

“I notice an accent but your English is very good. Where are you from?”

“I was born and raised in Beijing. My father runs a big pharmaceutical company.”

“Are you in school then?”

“I just graduated from high school as you call it. I’ll be going to University in a few months.”

“Congratulations. Where are you going to University?”

“Stanford in California. Are you in school?”

“I’m that age but am not in school. I may decide to go someday but not this year.”

A waitress came over and recognized me as the owner but didn’t say anything about it. “Good afternoon. What may I get for you?”

Hu ordered a glass of white wine. I ordered a beer. When she went to get the drinks, I asked, “What are your plans? Where’s your mother?”

“Mom has people that she meets when she is in town. I was going to have some food and meet with my cousin a little later. If you want to join us you can. He lives here in the city, down in ChinaTown. Mom prefers to stay in a nice hotel and not on a pullout couch.”

When the drinks were served, I ordered the lamb chops and Hu ordered the Hot Pot, which looked good when it arrived. She commented on how it tasted as good or better than the ones back home. I was happy to hear that. After dinner we ordered another round of drinks and walked over to shoot pool. Neither of us were very good but I enjoyed watching her from behind as she bent over to make her shots.

She said that she needed to be in the room at seven when her cousin was coming to get her and she needed to be there when the desk called. She again invited me to join them as I signed the check. I went back with her to her room and she asked what floor I lived on?

“I don’t live in the building, but am thinking about moving into a space that I own. I was up looking at the space when I ran into you.”

“I’m glad you did. What do you do for work or your family?”

“Real estate, we own properties here and in south Florida.”

We were cut off by the phone ringing. It was the front desk asking about letting her cousin up. Hu confirmed that he was expected and he was soon knocking on the door. He was about our age or maybe a few years older. His name was Wang Yong. He was dressed nice and was surprised to see me when he walked in. Hu explained about running into me and having dinner together. He smiled and shook my hand.

Hu said, “Bull has property in the city and has some space in this building.”

Wang walked around the condo taking in the views and the decorating. “This is a nice place. Is it a hotel?”

“Wang, there is a hotel lower down but these are timeshare condos. You can buy a week and you own it. You get the use of it during the week you signed up for or you can trade with others that may want different weeks during any given year.”

“Who owns this one?”

“I don’t know. Maybe Hu’s mom or the timeshare company. They let people stay in units if they’re interested in buying so they can see what it’s like.”

“I like the view. It would be nice to stay on different sides of the building to get different views.”

“We could go to the roof and you can see them all.”

Hu asked, “Can we go out there?”

“Sure. What are the plans for tonight?”

Wang said, “If you want to tag along, that’s fine. I was going to show my cousin some places in the city.”

“I’d like that. I haven’t been here long and tend to go to the same places.”

We took the elevator to the roof and were the only ones up there. There were tall plexiglass walls around the roof so the wind wasn’t bad and we could talk and hear each other. Wang pulled out a joint. “Want to get high?”

Hu nodded and I shrugged. We passed it around after he lit it. It took a little while but I got a buzz. Hu seemed happy as we walked around the rooftop and enjoyed the views of the city. We stopped back at her condo so we could all use the restroom before going out. As Wang was in the mens, Hu said, “He hangs out with a group that does different services for others in the Chinese community. I don’t know where he is taking us tonight but he is connected and we shouldn’t have any trouble.”

Reading between the lines he was similar to Tony and the business he was in. I just went with the flow. He was going to call a cab when I said, “The town cars are for use of those in the condos. I don’t think they’ll stay with us all night but can get us to the first stop.”

Wang smiled and nodded as we walked over to the town car and told him that we wanted to go to Chinatown. When we were dropped off, we went into a bar and had a drink or two. Hu asked about his businesses and he mentioned one down the road that was a casino. They play mahjong, dominos, poker and craps. This catered to the older Chinese people and some of the younger crowd. Hu wanted to play mahjong so we walked a block and up the stairs to the second floor. There was a guy at the door to check those coming in but when Wang was recognized we got a smile and an open door. He introduced us to the guy at the door, Bolin, and then we went inside.

He found a place for Hu to sit in and she was soon chatting away in Chinese. I stood and watched for a few minutes but it seemed like it would take a while. Wang asked what I wanted to do. I didn’t know mahjong or dominoes but did understand craps to some degree and played many hands of poker with family and friends. I said, “If we’re going to be here for a while, I can play poker.”

“There are a couple games with open chairs. One is five card stud with $10 antes, the other is a no-limit hold-em with five and ten dollar blinds. Both are higher than the entry level.”

“I have about five hundred I’d be willing to buy in with.’

“He smiled big. You’re welcome to sit in, my friend. I’ll keep an eye out since most of them speak Chinese. The dealers almost all speak English as well.”

After handing him the cash, he came back with chips and sat me at the table. I didn’t understand what the others were saying but I understood the cards and the chips and followed along with just a little help from the dealer. Some at the table were old men, some younger but still about ten years older than me. There was one older woman and I don’t think I saw her when she didn’t have a lit cigarette in her mouth all night.

I was up and down winning some small hands, putting in my blinds and winning enough to replace what I’d lost. There was one hand that I was dealt jack, queen. The flop came ace, king, ten with the ace and ten of clubs. I was dealt a straight and four others bet into the pot besides me. If another club came, a flush could beat me. If someone had two pairs and another card hit, a full house could beat me. As it was, I knew I was in the lead and bet big to try to get others to fold before they could get the card they needed. Three of the other four called and one folded. The king on the flop was a heart and the seven that came off next was also a heart so now there were two possible flushes and any pairing of the cards on the board could mean a full house. One of the others went all in and no one folded. I went all in and there was over two thousand in the pot. The last card came off as a nine of diamonds. I knew I had the best hand but all my money was already in the pot. Wang was behind me watching the hand as everyone turned over their cards or threw them away if they were losers. I was shown as the winner and the chips were pushed to me. It was just over $2300. Not much compared to the rental income I had but the fact that I won it in a poker game was fun. I think I heard some Chinese cuss words but I didn’t understand and didn’t let it bother me. If they would have won, they wouldn’t have worried about me losing.