Chapter 2

The next morning after breakfast Ted decided he would drive around and see more of the surrounding area. He started his drive and two streets later he saw a barber shop pole on a storefront. He parked his car and walked into this barber shop.

There were two lady barbers there and after being seated in a barber chair he told his barber that he wanted a fairly short haircut and his beard removed. She gave him a questionable look but started to do what he requested. Ted was a little amazed by the amount of his hair that was falling to the floor or onto his gown. It took some time to remove the beard and glancing into the mirror he thought he wasn’t that bad looking. He mentally had the hope that members of the opposite sex would share that same opinion.

After this haircut and beard removal was done, Ted said he would finish the beard removal by doing a shave later and gave a nice tip to the barber. Instead of driving around the immediate area he decided to expand his search and went over the Sunshine Bridge to see what the Bradenton and Sarasota areas had to offer.

The Sarasota area impressed him. The eastern edge of it seemed fairly new and he noticed considerable construction being done. There were several gated housing developments including golf courses with country clubs that he noticed. There was also a large modern downtown area. He thought he needed to do a re-evaluation of where he wanted to live.

As he was thinking about doing that he received a phone call from Lisa. She said the sellers had rejected his offer to buy and wouldn’t budge from the listed price. She suggested he meet their demand. Her doing that told him she was more interested in her commission than she was in representing him. He told her he wasn’t going to increase the offer and to withdraw it. Lisa asked him when he would be in for him to look at additional listings. He told her he wasn’t going to be coming in as for now he was reconsidering where he wanted to live. He could hear the disappointment in her voice when he ended the call. Ted now was going to look at what the Sarasota area had to offer in the way of housing.

Having that thought, he looked for a realty office. Seeing a listing for a realty office on the sign of a small strip mall he pulled into the lot and parked his car.

Walking into the office he was greeted by an older lady who asked what she could do for him. Taking a seat next to her desk he explained he was looking to relocate and the type of house he was looking for. She asked him several questions to clarify why he wanted this type of house along with other questions about him and his lifestyle.

Wanda Pressman, the realtor said, “As that newspaper columnist says, let me give you my two cents. The type of house you want is rare and is going to be hard to find since all of the lands by the water already have houses built on them. There may be a few where the original house has been razed and a new one built but I don’t have any listed like that which are for sale. Also, that type of house is very expensive and will be large. You say you are single and maybe your parents or some other relatives may come to visit you. Do you really need a five-bedroom house which besides having a high purchase price will have high taxes, high insurance costs, and high maintenance?”

“Since you appear to be concerned with damage caused by hurricanes, most of the damage they do is because of high winds. If storm shutters are installed on a house, along with wind-resistant windows, that should negate any wind damage from happening. If there is storm surge damage, that is why you are paying those high flood insurance premiums which will pay for that damage. I think I can find you a home with these wind-resistant features that is well-built and gives you access to the water. A house that is far enough inland to negate or minimize the storm surge possibility.”

“Understand that because this is a hot property area the home prices have doubled from what they were a few years ago. That means the sellers need to come back down to earth which requires serious negotiations from what the asking price is as to what you are offering. What do you say?”

Wanda made a lot of sense in what she said thought Ted. He told her he would like to see those types of houses she is talking about. She gathered listings of homes that met the criteria of what she said should interest Ted. She made a few calls to advise the owners of their forthcoming visits and said that just as soon as another realtor comes in they could go to see these houses. It was twenty minutes later when they were on their way.

Vising five houses with Wanda made for a long but fruitful day. Ted liked two of the houses which had all the features he wanted to have. He didn’t have a preference for one over the other but Wanda thought that one house had a few features over the other as a boat lift which was the one she recommended. Also discussed was what the offering price should be.

Back at her office, Ted signed an offer to purchase a contract containing the usual contingencies and his contingency of being able to secure insurance with a major insurance carrier.

Wanda phoned the listing realtor and after extending the offer explained why it was less than the asking price. He heard her also mention that the buyer was equally interested in another property if his offer wasn’t accepted. She knew her stuff was the thought Ted had as he listened to her conversation.

The following day Wanda phoned Ted and said the offer was accepted. She gave Ted the name of a home inspector along with an insurance agent to contact for insurance as well as who to contact for a low-cost mortgage. She also gave him information on the utilities he needed to contact, a lawn service, a house cleaner, and an interior decorator. She surprised him when she said the house as a precaution needed to be tented and gassed for termite prevention.

In what was a relatively short time the house inspector found a few items the owner agreed to have repaired. The closing on the house purchase was an uneventful event. The mortgage rate was reasonable but all indications the broker said were that the rates would shortly be going up. The interior decorator and the services she employed were good and she quickly had the house completely furnished.

He was sitting on his ass having a beer thinking about all of this that had happened in a relatively short time and thought it was amazing. Couple his thinking that with his realtor up north telling him his condo sold for more than he was asking was also good news. There wasn’t much of a price difference between what his condo sold for and what he paid for this house. Now he needed to start enjoying this “good life” as he referred to it.