Awww, you guys. You make me feel so loved. All of your notes and emails in regards to last week’s email has brought back so many memories.
Please keep them coming…you have reminded me of so many good times.
Like did I ever tell you about the duck hunting day when we actually spotted the Duck for the first time?
We had been searching for weeks, all over town, with a realtor who, even though she knew we wanted an “inside the loop” location, kept insisting on showing us properties everywhere but where we wanted to be. She was convinced that we would not be able to find what we were looking for, where we we looking for it at the price we could afford to pay.
One Sunday, when she wasn’t with us we took a Sunday drive that brought us to this little street just off Kirby Drive. And there it was! A nondescript concrete block building just sitting there. Even though there was no “for sale or lease” sign there was something about this building that just kept calling to us. We must have driven back to it five times that day.
First thing Monday morning, I called the realtor. She said she would get back with us.
And she did. Her response, “It’s not available and even if it was, it wouldn’t be in your price range anyway.”
Harumph.
Now you guys know there was no internet back then (or least, if there was, it was a secret to me) and no SIRI. So what could we do? Well, it just so happens that our dear old pal Gary had another dear old pal who knew how to find out who owned what and how to reach them.
He found a number for us to call.
Took several days because I kept getting a 10-year old boy on the phone.
“Is your mom home?” says I. “No.” says he. “How about your Dad?” says I.
Hmmm, now that I think about it I guess I’m pretty lucky that he didn’t just hang up and never answer the phone again.
When his mom finally called me back it was St Patrick’s Day. As I was explaining to her that we were interested in leasing their building for an Irish pub, the silence on the other end of the call was deafening. I thought she had hung up on me. (she later told me that she though it was a joke.)
We finally made arrangements to see the building the next day and asked our banker friend (aka dear old pal Gary) and his wife to accompany us to guide us through leasing negotiations should they be necessary.
We arrived a few minutes early and peeked around the back while waiting for the property owner. We noticed that there was a guard shack in the back (which looked like a pretty cool fort to our 12 year old son) and very secure fencing and gates all around the lot and a massive steel back door with excellent locks. Very secure. (more about this later)
The building owner arrived and walked us through the parking lot toward the massive steel back door. She was friendly and made a little joke about how she thought we were pranking her calling about opening an Irish Pub on St. Patrick’s Day.
As we approach the back door we ask what she expected for rent. She gave us the price, TWWNCNBUIP and I looked at each other and turned back to her and said “we’ll take it!”
As the future landlord turned her back to unlock the back door, our old pal Gary turns to us and whispers, “Way to negotiate guys!”
(more to come……)
