Newbies First Deal

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I was at the restaurant next door when I overheard a gentleman talking about a funeral and they will probably have to sell the property. I quietly moved in a smidge closer and found out that this guy's mom had just lost her boyfriend of 80 something years old. All I could think of was how to get the listing and how sad the lady must be to have lost her partner in life, (they weren't married). So I gave this gentleman a card after he exited the building and told him that I was sorry for his loss and that I would be glad to help sell the property if they were going to do so.

So a few days later I get a call from the little old ladys daughter asking if I had any manufactured homes for sale in the park here. Well, I said yes, and that I'd be glad to show them. We set up a time the next day and turns out the little old lady was someone that I knew from when I had a garage sale at our ranch a few months sgo. I had remembered that she had told my wife and I that she was “shacked up” with an older man. My god she has to be eighty herself. Anyway we talked at my garage sale for an hour. She liked that fact that our children were in 4-H and were raising animals for fair time to show and sell. So now I am putting this all together in my mind and figured that I knew this lady pretty good. So when they showed up for me to show the unit they must have had the whole family with them. Great! The more the better. Home sales aren't like car sales, where the 3rd person is usually a pain in the butt and the 4th person knows everything about everything. So I thought, this family really likes their mom and grandma, so this should be a fun experience for a brand new realtor.

I showed the home then after I thought it was in the bag, and they started talking about moving in a trailer. Wait a minute, did I loose something here? Am I going to be flushed down the toilet while my broker makes a ton of money on a new manufactured home and fill a space at the same time and get a monthly space charge while i do all the work?? No way!! Suddenly I remembered a unit that about to hit the MLS in our park but we were waiting for one signature from the sister or brother. But technically we could show it. So I said “Hey what about Unit 7120??? and everyone kinda got silent and the broker looked at me like well you know the look if you have been in sales long.

So the broker just happened to have the keys and it was her listing so I thought hey, 1/2 a deal is better than no deal right?? So we went to look at this gem. Believe me it was a gem. A nice double wide, well maintained, new roof, all appliances: Against a single wide I showed them that was a 60's model. This was a cream-puff as we would say in the car market. Well to make a ong story longer; They had me write a offer that day which was accepted and I opened my first escrow 34 days after recieving my real estate license. And escrow will be closing next week and it was an all cash deal!! Yeah! it was an exciting moment for me as you know we all remember our first one!!

Lewis (Lou) Derr
Upper Lake, CA

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