Chapter 15

“Tell me what you want in a home,” Mike Jacobson smiled.

Driving home from Weed, the girls talked for most of the ride, about this very topic. What type of house? How large? What features did they want? The list went from practical to ridiculous. (“We will need a special closet just to hold shoes!”) However, they also knew that they needed to find someone that they could trust to work with them. With the market being what it was, they were concerned that some unscrupulous seller might take advantage of them as inexperienced buyers

Remembering the conversation with Mike from the night at the dance club, that he worked for the family company that did home renovations as well as handling a small number of property listings, they called him to set a time for a consultation.

“You first,” Brandi giggled. “You seemed to have a lot of ideas when we started talking about this.”

The office area, which was actually a large, open room with several workstations on one side, and tables with books and a seating area on the other. The three of them were seated around a table, as Mike made notes on a laptop computer.

“What we want, and what we need might not be the same,” Lupe laughed. “Or, even what we get. But three bedrooms, two bathrooms, is a good start. We want to set up a guest room, and maybe the third bedroom as a home office. A nice big eat-in kitchen. Room to entertain and a nice yard. I don’t want recent construction, because it seems that everything recent was built with lower quality materials. Pretty paint and trimmings are nice, but not if it is hiding problems.”

Mike nodded and looked over at Brandi. “And you?”

“A place for my piano. I have an old upright Baldwin that I love to play but for now it’s taking up space in my parent’s living room. Minimal carpeting. I prefer hardwood floors when possible. I understand that in some areas, like the bathroom, that might not be practical.” Looking over at Lupe she winked. “And lots of storage for shoes!”

Mike smiled, knowing Luna’s own love for footwear. “I can understand you not wanting recent construction. The buildings have not had a chance to ‘settle’ and age flaws to be addressed. Square footage? Exterior? How many floors?”

The girls looked at each other for a moment. “We don’t want to be cramped, if possible,” Brandi continued. “We’ll know it when we see it, but we also understand the practicalities, and we’re ready to compromise on some things, except for the shoe storage!” she laughed. “You might have noticed that I’m short. I love my heels!”

“She has close to a hundred pair, if you can believe it. Her mother showed me the closet in her room back in Weed,” Lupe grinned.

“You and Luna. Birds of a feather,” Mike commented. “Okay. So now the big question. Price range?”

“We can put up to $100 thousand down. Note that I said ‘up to’ that amount. We’ve seen those property shows on TV where the couple is shown homes that are above what they can afford or pay, with the realtor goading them, saying ‘I know this is a little above what you want to pay, but... ‘ We’ll not go that route. It will be a deal breaker. We’ve worked with our bank. We’re pre-approved for up to $500 thousand, based on that down payment. With principal interest, taxes and insurance, we calculated that the monthly payment will be just slightly more than what we pay now for rent.”

“Pre-approved,” Mike grinned. “The magic words. That means the money is already guaranteed. You just need to find something to spend it on. ‘Pre-Qualified’ simply means you can be ‘potentially’ approved for the funds, but there is always a risk that something will pop up to prevent that. You’re several steps ahead of the game here.”

He looked down at the information on the screen of the laptop... “I told you that the majority of the business we do is renovations to existing properties. However, we also work on properties that may have been foreclosed. If we can help get someone a deal, all the better! Purchasing a property that is under market value can give you almost instant equity. If you’re ready, we can go look at a few places right now. If nothing tickles your fancy, we can continue searching.”

He led the girls out to his SUV and off they went.

Four properties later, the girls had not seen anything that captured their interest. While they were all nice homes, they just didn’t have that special something that seemed to be what they were looking for.

“I’m sorry,” Lupe said. “Please don’t think that we are wasting your time.” They were standing next to the SUV in the driveway of the last home.

“Not at all, I understand that this is possibly the most important purchase that someone can make. Oh, excuse me for a moment.” Mike pulled his phone from his shirt pocket.

“Hello? Yes? We did? When? Great! Do not, I repeat do not list that place yet. Trust me. I mean it. Understood? I’ll see you at the office later.”

Disconnecting, he smiled. “Ladies? We might have a winner.”

Pulling up the driveway of the house, Mike addressed the girls before they got out. “My father had been keeping an eye on this property for a while now. The owner died and a title search shows a lean of just under $100 thousand for some work that was done. There was also roughly $4,000 in back property taxes. We picked this place up for what was owed.” He opened the door on the SUV. “Shall we go see the house?”

The girls just stood, looking at the front of the house. It was a brick faced Arts & Crafts style home, single level, with a small covered front porch.

“This calls to me,” Lupe sighed.

Brandi clasped her hand tight and nodded. “Mike? Please unlock the door for us?”

Inside the foyer, Mike continued his narrative. “The house was built in 1937 and is just over 1400 square feet. Here we come into the great room and you can see the fireplace on the outer wall. And, per your ‘likes list’ there are hardwood floors. Towards the back is a dine-in kitchen. If you want a formal dining area, it will need to be towards the back of this great room. Down that way,” he indicated with a hand, “are the bedrooms and bathrooms. The master bedroom has its own en-suite.” He could see the sudden interest and thought that Brandi and Lupe might seriously think about making an offer.

“How about I go outside? I need to make a few calls unrelated to us being here. You look around and yell if you need me.”

The girls wandered the house, calling to each other in excited voices.

“The doors have crystal door knobs! Cute!”

“I just love the subway tile on the floor and wall in the bathrooms!”

“The kitchen is a great size, but I think that the Harvest Gold appliances will need to be replaced.”

The three bedrooms were all a reasonable size, and it was decided that the third, and smallest room, would make a good home office.

The backyard was a good size, but there was no deck or patio. Just a sheet of plywood in the dirt as you stepped out the door. The grass was mostly dead and landscaping was non-existent, The driveway to the side of the house went to the detached two car garage, or ‘carriage house’ as it had once been called.

Lupe came back into the great room, and paused. Brandi was standing in the center of the room and staring intently at the fireplace and the wall.

“I can see it,” she whispered. “The fireplace with garlands for the holidays, the tree standing decorated and lit, to the right, and my piano to the left.”

“Las medias fueron colgadas por la chimenea con cuidado,” Lupe said in a soft voice.

“Con la esperanza de que San Nicolás pronto estaría allí,” Brandi finished.

The girls embraced, knowing that this was indeed the house for them. Soon, they were driving back to the office to start negotiations and paperwork.

A week later, Mike was again seated with his laptop connected to a large TV on the wall so everyone could see. On the drive back to the office, after seeing the house, he could easily feel the excitement that Brandi and Lupe had for the property.

“Ladies, I want you to see the ideas I have for the home, based on the information we talked about.” An exterior image of the house came up. “A lot of this can be further modified, if you want. Just let me know. Now, starting with the front...”

The girls watched and listened, as Mike continued. The entire exterior of the house would be power washed to remove decades of grime, lightening the brickwork. The porch would be expanded to go from just six feet wide, centered at the front door, to the point that it reached across the entire front. The small awning over the door would be rebuilt to cover the entire porch that would come out eight feet. Four carved wooden posts would hold up the roof that would cover the porch. A wrought iron security door would be added, with designs of grapevines across it, to keep in style with the era of the house being built, and honoring the local wine industry. Slate pavers created a walkway from the sidewalk to the porch.

“The driveway is a solid poured concrete and in great shape, so no work is needed there. Now, inside...”