Chapter 04

Louisville Life

Admission

During the summer holidays Mo drives up in his camper-van to look for a place to live because he doesn’t want to live on campus. For this visit he’s staying at a camp-ground just off Interstate 65 in Clarksville, Indiana, which is only a short drive over the river from Louisville.

The next morning he goes over the river to the university admissions office. Fifteen minutes to complete the initial paperwork and a walk to the guidance counsellor they’ve signed him up for. He walks over to her office, knocks, and is invited in.

Mrs Rains looks up and asks, “Morris Walker?” He nods, “You’re a little early to be wanting a guidance counsellor, aren’t you?”

Mo grins as he replies, “Everyone calls me Mo, Ma’am. I’d appreciate it if you did too. I’ve planned out my entire study course, my father has checked it all and agrees with it. I now want it reviewed by you to confirm it’s a goer. I’ve a four point zero GPA from high school and I’ve the transcript here.” He hands over both his transcript and his course plan along with the graduation requirements of the qualifications he’s going for.

She looks it all over and turns to her computer. For several minutes she’s busy entering everything into a program on her computer. After a check of some papers she turns to Mo while saying, “As long as there’s no changes in the curriculum this should work. It is a bit odd. You have your fall semester loaded with extra courses along with a few summer semester courses while the transcripts account for a lot of courses. You’ll finish the three degrees in three years. However, if you do a heavy load in the spring semester you can finish a half a year earlier. Or you can do an even load in both to finish in three years. Why the light load in the spring semesters?”

He grins, “I want to play baseball, Ma’am, and that’ll make the studies a bit harder if I make the university team. The travel will mean I need more study time. As you can see, I’ve set the courses to miss the minimal number of classes on travel days.”

“I wondered why you had no Friday classes for the semester. So, you think you can play baseball.”

“I do OK! I’m just not sure if I can do well enough for the team.”

She grins as she picks up the phone. While entering a number she says, “I’ll get one of the coaches over and see what he says after he checks you out. I’ll upload this course of study into the system, if you want. I see you’re registered so I can upload and approve it for you right now.” He nods. Then she speaks into the phone for a moment and hangs up. A moment’s work at the computer then his course of study is all approved and locked in for the next three years.

Mrs Rains is handing him a print out when a tall man walks in and she introduces him by saying, “Mo, this is my husband, Mike Rains, the batting coach for the team.” Turning to Mike she says, “This is a new student who wants to try out as a walk on for the baseball team, meet Morris ’Mo’ Walker.”

Mike grins and holds out his hand. Mo takes it and they shake. Mike says, “Mo, do you think there’s much I can teach you?” Mrs Rains turns to stare at her husband.

Mo smiles, “I hope so. From what I’ve seen the players at this level are a lot faster and trickier than I’m used to. I’m hoping you can help me get up to speed and be able to deal with them properly.”

“You know, if you’d let us know you were coming here we could’ve got you some financial support.” Mrs Rains is further shocked by this.

“My father can afford the fees so why use the money you can use for someone who can’t afford to pay? Anyway, this way I have a bit more control over my own life than if I was on a scholarship. I can live where I like and not in the specified dorm.” Mike laughs and agrees with him.

The next hour is spent finalising the admission related paperwork and getting a university ID as well as a parking permit. Mike is a big help in smoothing the way for all of that. By lunchtime Mo has a most of the paperwork done and he knows where everything important is on campus. He’ll stop at the bookshop to buy some books after he has lunch with Mr and Mrs Rains in one of the better on-campus eateries. One thing Mike does for Mo is to arrange approval for him to have access to the training and fitness facilities on the campus.

Before he leaves the campus Mo attends a two hour university orientation course and he has the admin staff enter it into their computer. Mrs Rains arranges it at his request, and when it’s done she asks, “You know you could’ve left this to do at the start of the semester!”

Mo smiles and says, “I know this was extra work for you and Mary. Thank you for doing it for me now. However, doing this now just saved me a hell of a lot of work and trouble over the coming weeks.” Both the ladies who gave the short course frown at him. “I’ve just finished my first official class here at the university, right?” They both nod. “So I’ve now officially commenced my attendance at college.” He hands over a note with an email address while saying, “Send these people that information and they’ll list me as ineligible for the draft this year. It saves me having to respond to all of the scouts and recruiters wanting me to sign with them.” Both of the ladies laugh at his planning ahead.

Housing

For over a week Mo checks out condo and house listings of places to live in Louisville, both rental and purchase. Everything is either too expensive, too far out, or too near places Mo doesn’t want to be near.

On the Friday night he’s having dinner with Mike and Ellen Rains and he mentions his problems while they eat a tasty meal. Ellen asks, “Mo, is there any specific reason to live in Louisville?”

He looks up as he replies, “Well, apart from not wanting to spend ages driving in from outside of Louisville, not really. Why?”

She grins and says, “Across the river isn’t Louisville. You should look at the listings for Clarksville, New Albany, and the other places within easy reach of the bridges.” She laughs at the stunned look on his face.

A moment later Mo laughs hard then he says, “The real irony of this is I’m staying at a camp-ground in Clarksville. Yet I never thought to look for housing over there.”

Mike asks, “What are you looking for? House, condo, rent, or buy?”

“All of the above,” is Mo’s response. “Dad gave me approval to look at either renting or buying, depending on what I find. He’s in a damn good job and he has money in the bank to buy if I find a good deal.”

Mike looks at Ellen and she says, “Patrick. We’ve got to call Pat!”

While Ellen brings the dessert out Mike is on the phone to Ellen’s cousin called Patrick, Mike says, “Pat, bring the plans and information for your condo development over right now.” He hangs up, turns to Mo, and says, “Pat has a condo development he’s in the middle of. His problem is his partner died in a car accident. The widow wants his investment back and is withdrawing the properties he used for the bank loan’s collateral. Now Pat is in a bind. The first building is mostly built but he has to pay off the witch before he can spend any more money on it. The bank is prepared to transfer the collateral to be the new building, but that’s all.”

Twenty minutes later Ellen is clearing the table when Pat arrives with all of his papers. He’s surprised to be explaining the property and deal to a nineteen year old, but he does so because Mike tells him to. Mo asks for and examines the original and recent valuations by the bank plus the one from an independent valuator which is a bit higher.

It’s almost ten at night when Mo pulls out his phone to make a call. It’s answered, and he says, “Dad, I’m emailing you some papers to go through tonight. They’re for a condominium development that’s part built. If we can get together the two and a half million to buy in it’ll pay for itself within a few years. I’ll also be able to live in it.” He listens then hangs up. Turning to Pat he says, while handing over an email address, “Send my father e-copies of all these papers and he’ll go through them. Pending his confirmation of them, a building inspection report, and my evaluation in the morning, he’ll be able to transfer a million on the day he has all three reports then he can organise the rest soon after.”

Pat and Mike stare at Mo for a moment. Ellen knows his family has money to pay the full fees so she asks, “Mo, how rich is your family?”

He grins, “Actually, I don’t know! We moved to the USA just after I turned sixteen and it took all we had to buy a house and get set up in Seffner. Dad was transferred after Mum died and we sold everything. By the time I started school here we had a house, clothes, a car, and were living off Dad’s salary with no debt. Until just then I had no idea what he was paid. I only knew they gave him a good pay rise to take the transfer. We do have a nice older lady who cleans for us. We don’t need a cleaner but it does make life a little easier and it makes her happy to have someone to look after. She’s a widow and her kids are spread across the country. Before the transfer Dad’s old boss doubled his pay as an incentive to make the move, so when he started here his pay was on the equivalent grade. He’s had one pay rise since he’s been here. However, he just told me he has a million and a half in the bank and he thinks the bank will loan him the rest without any problems. So, if all is well we should be able to get Pat out of this hole he’s in because of his partner’s widow.” The others all shake their heads in wonder.

Condo Capers

Pat needs two million to pay off the widow. Due to her pulling out prior to completion she’s only entitled to the original amount put in by her deceased husband: two million dollars. The other half million is to pay for the completion of the existing building, the kids play area, and to get started on the next building. At the moment the bank values the project at five and a half million with a note for it to be worth seven to eight million once the first building is built-out to the live in stage. Pat estimates four weeks to finish the first building. The money he’s asking for is to have a fifty percent share of the project, so Mo should almost double the money within a few months. That’s provided Pat’s valuations are correct and it isn’t a scam, which Mo doesn’t think it is.

The next day Mo and Pat are looking over the condominiums. The plans call for three buildings, each building is to have two apartments with a parking spaces for the tenants on the ground level, three levels of eight apartments, and the top level of two apartments with a screened in swimming pool and spa area. The buildings form three sides of a square around a grass playground with a visitor parking area along the fourth side of the front street. All three building foundations are in, the first building structure is finished, and it just needs to have the internal build-out completed. The visitor parking lot is also finished. Once the current building is finished they can start to sell the units and to use the income from the sales to finish constructing the next building.

While looking over the building Mo asks Pat how the building work is doing. “Not well,” is Pat’s reply. “The county won’t issue final approvals until a floor is finished. We can’t sell without the approval. So far only the top two floors are finished due to a hold up with some fittings until I can pay for them. The gear is expected to be on hand a few days after being paid for and everything in this building will be finished within a week of them arriving. If you buy in you’ll have one of the top floor penthouse condos and I’ll have the other one. The next floor down is sort of all sold from the plan in that we have contracts for the sales once we get county approval. The money from those sales will pay for the right-hand building to be constructed. The one facing the side road will be the last one to build. That’s to minimise the construction interfering with the tenants we get in these buildings before it’s finished.”

A nod from Mo with, “Sounds OK. But why didn’t you finish one of them before doing the foundations for the other two?”

“To save on costs for the specialist excavation and construction of them. It also allowed us to be able to do the playground. We put the parking lot for visitors in early so the workers have a place to park too.”

“What’s the break-even point?”

“If all goes to plan the sale of the first two buildings pays for it all. We share the money from the sale of the third building as profit and we also get to keep these two condo units. The condo corporation for running the buildings is separate from the construction company. When a unit is ready for sale it’s transferred to the condo company at full price on a loan which is paid out when the unit is sold. That way each unit owner gets an equal share in the condo company while we get the profits.”

Mo thinks about the condos. Each full level has four three bedroom condos and four condos of four bedrooms, the ground floor has two four bedroom condos, and the top level has two six bedroom condos. When finished that’s forty-two four bedroom condos, thirty-six three bedroom condos, and six large condos of six bedrooms. Plus the parking lots, pools, playground, and the visitor parking. That’s a lot of housing in a good location with many shops and the schools within walking distance. Plus a major city and universities within an easy drive. Four million dollars to get to what Pat says is fifty percent of the construction costs. So that’s a total of eight million for costs. Shaking his head Mo asks, “What will they sell for?”

“They’re all top price due to the size, quality, and the good location. We’ve also got better amenities than anyone else. The three bedroom units are one hundred and sixty thousand, four bedroom ones are two hundred and twenty thousand, with three hundred and fifty thousand for the six bedroom penthouses. So the final profit will be around the six million mark for us to either split or to start in on another project.”

“How long to finish the project now?”

“The widow had me tied up for two months with a court order to freeze the bank accounts until she got paid out. But now we’re rolling again another two months or so should finish it all and get them sold. The hard part will be selling the last ones because all of the people with the money and an interest will be in the first two buildings.”

“The worst case scenario is we rent out the unsold condos.”

“Yeah. We can do that, but I don’t want to be a landlord.”

A few days later Randy has the reports, talked to the bank, created a company to handle their half, sent Pat half a million to start on the interior finishing work, and organised the two million dollar bank loan to pay the widow. So within days of being told of the deal Mo is heading back to Tampa with plans and photos of the top floor condo he’ll be living in when he returns to start his university studies. Mike, Pat, and Ellen are all happy with the arrangements made.

On his return to Tampa Mo thanks his father for being quick to get the money organised, then he goes to visit the furniture store they went to when they furnished the house. After a few hours to look at furnishings while they study the photos they’ve got a plan. The furniture will be sent direct to the condo in four weeks’ time and Mo will be there to meet it.

Note: It takes two months to complete the construction and sell all but four of the condos. Mo takes them at a discounted rate to have one six bedroom and three of the three bedrooms condos to rent. Randy takes his investment and interest charges from their share of the revenue, but he leaves the rest in the company he set up at the start with Mo as the owner so Mo has money to operate the company.

Moving In

Mo arrives in Clarksville on a Saturday afternoon. He calls Pat to get the keys to his condo. Pat meets him at the entrance to hand over the keys and they go back to his condo as that’s where he lives now.

On the night of his arrival Mo moves into his empty condo and camps in his bedroom. Sunday is spent making contact with Mike and Ellen again, then another night in his sleeping bag on the empty floor of a premium condo. Monday he’s up early, puts his camping gear in a closet, and he gets ready for the furniture deliveries. The first truck arrives and it parks in the side street. Mo is there to meet them, as arranged on the phone last week. While the work crew starts unloading the gear onto the street Mo shows the crew chief how to get to the condo and Mo gives him one of the cards to use the elevator. When the man leaves he drops a rubber wedge to hold the front door open and he sets it in place.

Ten minutes later the crew chief is leading three men with two flat trolleys full of furniture. The man walks in and says, “Study,” so Mo shows them to the study / den beside the master bedroom. The men get busy unloading the trolley while the crew chief heads back out.

The furniture had shipping protection while in transit. Most of it is removed at the truck and each item is put on the trolley with a single cover to protect it on its way up. Some small items are still in boxes to make them easier to carry on the trolleys. Mo is busy directing the men where to put the items as they take them off the trolleys. They’re almost finished with these trolley loads when the crew chief turns up with two more trolleys for this room. In a moment the first crew are leaving with their empty trolleys and Mo is directing the placement of the next load. The boxed items are left on the desk and computer station for now.

The men are moving the last of the bookcases from the trolleys when the crew chief arrives to ask Mo to show him the ’Blue Room.’ Mo grins and shows him the other five bedrooms, each is colour coded. One has light blue walls, one is green, one is an off-white, one is a dark cream, and the fifth smaller bedroom is a light pink. Mo asks, “Think you can work out the rest for yourself?” The man grins and nods, he had wondered why they had such odd names and now he knows. Pointing to a large Post-it note stuck on the wall Mo adds, “Room floor plan.” The man sees it’s a drawing of where to put the bedroom furniture.

The crew chief checks the other rooms to find a similar plan on the wall of all the bedrooms and dining room, but not the rest. He wonders why until he realises these rooms have little furniture being delivered with not many places to put them, but the lounge room etc. are another matter. He goes back to lead another load of gear up while Mo checks on the man left in the study who’s unpacking the items still in boxes. Working together they soon have them unpacked and placed where Mo wants them to be.

The rest of the day is very busy for Mo and the truck crews. It takes a lot of gear to furnish a large six bedroom condo, and that means many trucks of furniture. It’s a good thing the company delivering it all has the trucks scheduled to arrive at different times so they don’t have to hang around parked in the street for too long.

Naturally the procession of furniture gets a lot of attention from the neighbours so the few already in the building come up to see where it’s all going. Thus Mo gets to meet some of the people from the next floor while he’s directing the placement of the dining room and lounge room furniture. It’s only after they get all of the big furniture items in place in the dining room Mo realises it was a mistake to let Sophia organise the cutlery and crockery for him. While watching the many boxes being set on the large dining table he wonders how much gear she got for the kitchen and dining room, and if he will ever learn how to use it all.

The stream of furniture is interrupted by the delivery of the large appliances so Mo takes a moment to show the man where the large fridge and freezer go in the kitchen, the chest freezer goes in the pantry, and the smaller fridge goes in the semi-outdoor area in the corner. The delivery man has a clear idea of which goes where to place the washing machine and clothes drier when he’s shown the laundry.

By the late afternoon the condo is like a disturbed ants nest with the furniture workers hard at work unpacking the small items in the boxes. It’s a good thing they’re doing it because they know where and how to place the many glasses and plates in the cupboards designed for them.

Finally everything is where it should be and the men are placing the last of the empty boxes on their trolleys. It’s only then Mo realises only six men and four trolleys have been used to move it all. He asks the crew chief, “Is there really only the seven of you? It seemed like a lot more were at work here.”

The man smiles while saying, “There’s only the seven of us on my crew and we have only these four trolleys. At the trucks the driver and his helper get the gear off the truck and take the transit packing off, we help with that as well. Then we bring the gear up. The truck doesn’t leave if there’s gear on the side-walk unless the next truck is there to take his place to keep an eye on it. We’ve been doing this for years and we have it down to a fine art.” He also hands Mo the elevator card.

Mo hands the man two hundred and fifty dollar while saying, “Share that with your men. You sure looked like a horde of workers while on the job.” They all laugh while they push their trolleys out the door and head off to their next job, or whatever it is they’re going to do. Mo locks up and he follows them out the door.

Ten minutes later he’s parking his van in front of a large grocery store then walking inside. Forty minutes later Mo is pushing a shopping cart of food out and he’s followed by three of the staff with a cart load each as he’s stocking up. Some shoppers are shocked when they simply load the full carts into the back of the van and Mo ties them down before giving two of the helpers a ten dollar tip each while the third gets in the van. After a short trip to his new home they unload the carts and take them up to the condo. Once everything is unloaded and all of the fridge and freezer stuff is packed away Mo hands the last store staff member a thirty dollar tip before they take the carts back to the van. Mo stops near the front door of the store for them to unload the carts and the store staff member pushes them inside while Mo drives home again.

Mo’s last moving task is to go down to bring all of his clothes up from the van to store them in his bedroom. He also puts a load of bath and bed linen through the washing machine before he fixes himself a meal from his new food supplies.

Only one last task to do, but that’s for tomorrow when the workman Pat organised arrives to hang all of the photos and artwork on the walls for Mo. Then he can clean the place and he’s all set. Being tired Mo has a bath in the large corner bath of the en-suite bathroom and he goes to bed.

In the morning the worker arrives to mount all of the pictures, and he does a good job. He asks for a hundred dollars, takes the money, and he leaves. Since there’s no paperwork Mo doubts it’ll show in his books, but that’s not Mo’s problem.

Mid-morning Tuesday Mo drives off to get his driver’s license and car registration transferred to Indiana. It’s a short drive and a fair wait, but he gets it done now so he doesn’t have to worry about it later. He knows he does not have to transfer them, but he wants them transferred.

The afternoon is spent buying and setting up his new computers: a desktop unit for at home and a notebook for at the university. The same crew delivering them also brings the new televisions: one for the master bedroom, one for the lounge room, and one for the outdoor area. After they leave Mo uses his vacuum cleaner to clean the condo. A little later that night Mo sits in his new lounge chair watching the news on his new television while eating his dinner. He’s now officially moved in.

Settling In

Wednesday and Thursday are spent walking around the area to see what there is around there. Mo also meets a lot of people. On his way back to the condo on Thursday afternoon Mo comes across a woman in her fifties who looks a little down, and he asks, “Are you OK, Ma’am?”

She gives him a slight smile as she replies, “Not really. I came down here to look at these condos but the man selling them isn’t here. So I’ll have to make another trip next week. I should’ve called, but I forgot to.”

“There’s only a six bedroom penthouse and some three bedroom units left. Which were you looking for?”

“My youngest sister and her family are in a four bedroom unit in that block, I thought they were all the same.” She waves at the block Mo has the last units in. “A three bedroom unit would be better for me.”

“I’ve got the keys to a few unsold units up in my condo. If you want I can go get them to show you what they’re like.” She smiles as she nods.

Mo races off to his block while she walks to the entrance of the block on the side street. A few minutes later he’s back and showing her one of the three bedroom units on the first full level. She likes it and asks, “Do you know how much they are?”

“Yes, Ma’am, I do. The three bedroom units are one hundred sixty thousand dollars to buy.”

“That’s cheaper than what my brother-in-law paid.”

“Yes it is. But it’s smaller, that’s why. Also, the four bedroom units all have corners with better views than the three bedroom units. Did they tell you about the amenities?” She frowns at him so he takes her to see the roof pool and spa then the secure parking lot on the ground floor.

“I like the idea of the pool in the building. Is there much traffic from the other building tenants to use the pool?”

“Ma’am, these are premium condos because each building has its own pool. The other two buildings are duplicates of this. The only units not sold are the one I just showed you, two like it on the next floor up, and one of the six bedroom penthouses in this building.”

“You know a lot about the condos! Are you the man selling them?”

“Not really. The project manager is selling them and he’s taken a few days off to visit his family. My father helped with some finance issues a few months back and I’ve got one of the condos to live in while I go to college here. Pat gave me the keys of the others for while he’s away.”

“My sister lives on the next floor. Can you show me those units?”

Mo smiles and nods. A little later she’s looking them over, and makes her choice. Pat tells her the monthly condo charge, which gets a frown and a comment of, “Charles never said anything about that! I’m not sure I can afford it. I’ve got the money for the condo and a bit for the bank as I just sold my house in Indianapolis, but I’ve only my Joe’s pension to live on.” Mo frowns so she adds, “My husband, Joe, died three years ago but I get his pension each month. I can live on that and the extra from the house will bring in some interest, but I can’t afford that much, not after paying for food and the utilities.”

Mo half frowns, then smiles while saying, “Come look at something.” He takes her up to the penthouse unit and asks, “If you were paid to clean a place like this for five half-days a week how much do you want?”

She looks about the unit and says, “Oh, my! It is big.” She names a price comparable with what Emily is paid by Randy.

He grins and says, “Let’s go look at the furnished unit concerned.”

A few minutes later she’s looking over Mo’s condo while he prints out a sales contract and a three year part-time work contract. The only information they need to write in is her name as the rest of it is typed in.

Mo sits her down at the dinner table and places the papers before her while saying, “You should read these and then get a lawyer to check them for you before you sign them.”

She smiles while saying, “My Joe was a lawyer and I was his helper. I can understand and approve these. Why a three year work contract?”

“I’m going to the university and I’ve a three year degree plan. After that I don’t know if I’ll be living here, selling this, or renting it. I want you to feel secure in the employment for the time I’m here. This way you have a guaranteed income for the three years.”

She smiles and signs both of the contracts before holding her hand out while saying, “I’m Sarah Ives.”

Mo shakes her hand as he says, “Mo Walker. May I call you Sarah?”

“Since you’re my boss I think I can allow that, Mo.” Both laugh. “I see you recently moved in with all new linen. I’ll wash it all when I get started. First, I have to finish packing, move my things, unpack, then I’ll come over to get started working for you. When can I get the keys?”

“I’ll give you the keys to your condo now. But I’ll be in real trouble if you don’t transfer the payment before you move in.” She smiles and nods agreement while accepting the keys to the unit she wants.

Mo walks her back to her car and she drives off, happy to have her new housing near her sister. Mo is happy to have a cleaner and to have sold one of the condos. Pat gets half of the discount Mo got if Pat sells any within the next few weeks, and that’s one he’s now missed out on.