The week after Jen's visit was hectic for me. The girls had set a date for the wedding and it was only a little more than three weeks off. I had a lot to do. Oh not as much as someone who was having a traditional wedding but still a lot of things to take care of and chief among them was to find a place for all of us to live. I had contacted a couple of real-estate agents and put them to the search but they kept coming to me with places that I found unacceptable. Some it was a location I did not want, too many neighbors too close by, and some it was just way more than I felt was reasonable. I had given up on locating something in the immediate area and had expanded my search area.
My house hunt ended on the Friday after Jen left. I had to make a short trip to see a client about 2 hours drive away, and while returning I got detoured. I ended up on a secondary road in rural West Virginia and was heading home. I did not have too far to go I knew I was less than half an hour travel from my apartment . I was vaguely familiar with the area from having traveled through it in the past but I can't claim to have known it well. Suddenly I looked to my left and saw a For Sale sign nailed to a tree at a driveway entrance. I hit the brakes and backed up to read it.
It read. "For Sale. House and land 100+ acres. Contact county commissioners office for details." And it listed a phone number. The sign had obviously been there a while but it wasn't ancient. I stared at it a minute then on a whim I turned into the driveway to see what there was back there.
About 300 yds off the road, behind a screen of trees stood an old style brick house. A big house and obviously, from the architecture, old. I drove up to it and stopped, visible in the rear was a barn and another outbuilding which looked as though it was a smaller barn or perhaps a carriage house in the last century. The land around the house was open meadow, which appeared to have not been taken care of in the last few years as trees were beginning to sprout randomly. I got out of the car and walked up onto the front porch to see if I could see into the windows. It was hard to see anything inside, as it was darker inside than out. More out of curiosity than anything else I tried the door and found it unlocked. Throwing caution to the wind I gave myself the nickel tour.
What I found was a big old style Manor house a large Living room or parlor as they used to call it and a dining room set across the entryway from the parlor. To the rear of the dining room was a big old kitchen, which would have been modern in the 1940's. Behind the parlor and accessible from the entry hall was a good sized room with several windows and a fireplace as well as a door to the outside. The second floor was a collection of medium sized rooms and one large room in the front that was probably the master bedroom and one bathroom. The bathroom was huge. It had obviously been a bedroom at one time and been converted when indoor plumbing came into existence. I strolled around and an idea began to form, actually several ideas and plans began to gel. I won't bore you with the details but I could see seven or eight bedrooms including the master and a bathroom remodel to make it into two as well as adding a bath off the master.
Back down to the car and out to the road, I copied the phone number onto a note pad and drove of in search of a phone. 2 miles down the road was a gas station / general store. I stopped and went fishing for information before making the call. I got the whole local story on the place. Last owner had died about 10 years earlier with no heirs the county took the place for taxes and had been trying to sell it ever since. The problem was it had been the site of some minor Civil War battle and was reputed, by local legend, to be haunted. To make things worse some Civil War buff had had the place declared as a historic site by the Federal Government in the 60's and now there was no way to develop the land into anything but a farm, or park. The county also had a money problem and wanted to sell the property as well as a bunch of others, fast.
Armed with the information I asked for directions to the county seat and set off. It was only about another 5 miles and a stop at the courthouse led to a meeting with the county officials. They asked for an unbelievable 1 million for the property. I just laughed and got up to leave. They hastily added that they would listen to a reasonable offer. I sat back down and took out my checkbook, wrote a check made out to the county for $100,000 and handed it to them. "Full and complete payment. Not a penny more!" was all I said as I sat back in my chair. They blustered and complained but never moved to hand the check back. I stood firm and sat there with my arms crossed, just saying "No" to every counter they made.
Finally they stopped at 150 and would not move. Now I had to work them. I explained that I wanted to remodel the inside and live there and that I would be spending another $100,000 at least on that and of course I would like to keep the contracts local and would appreciate their help in selecting good craftsman. I know the three of them saw kickback dollar signs at that revelation. That brought their asking price down another $25K. Now I set the hook. I'd give them the additional $25K but I wanted a property tax break because of the "Historic Nature of the property" I demanded a 90% abatement. They nearly cried and I pointed out that 10% of the tax for the county was better than the zero they had been getting.
We had a deal. They called the county Solicitor to draw up the papers and we agreed to settle in 2 weeks. I let them keep the check as a good faith deposit. As I left the building I stopped in the Clerk of Courts office and asked who was the best attorney in town. They told me, and then I asked who was the smartest attorney in town. That question got me a surprised look but a different answer. As I suspected the guy with the reputation is not always the smartest one. He usually is the best but with less fanfare. I left the building and stopped by his office, he agreed to see me and I explained about my transaction with the county commissioners. He chuckled at the price I got for the property commenting that they probably would have given it to me for less until I told him about the tax deal I worked out. That brought a laugh and an admission that I probably got the better of the deal. He agreed to accept me as a client and handle the paperwork for the transfer and to review the contracts I would need to undertake to rehab the building. I figured I was set and I was definitely excited. While it would be a bit of a drive for me to work it was still only a half-hour and the place would be big enough for the three of us as well as the children to be. Still there would be plenty of room left over for guests i.e. my other two wives to be and my sister when she came to visit.
I drove home on a cloud. I was a little worried that Tina and Tammy might not like it but I figured if worse came to worse I would rehab it and put it on the market, I should at least break even. But I was fairly confident that they would love it as both had made comments about living in town that led me to believe they were not 100% comfortable with it. They were country girls after all, having grown up on a farm and all. Still I decided to keep it to myself for now and present it to them when it was ready to move into. Not as a dilapidated old dump but as a modern comfortable home. Still I had to tell someone so I decided to call Jen and tell her as soon as I got home.
Luckily I got home before either of the girls. I grabbed the phone and dialed her work number. It rang and then her voice answered. "Jennifer speaking." I paused I knew by the tone of her voice that this was the old Jen and it scared me a little.
"Jen, its Jack, how are you?"
"Oh hi Jack, I'm busy right now is this important?"
"No not really I just wanted to tell you something but it can wait." She must have read the disappointment in my voice. There was a pause on her end then she said, "I sorry Jack, I'm just a little pissed. I was planning on coming down and surprising you tonight and staying for the weekend but I got dumped on earlier and now I have to work through the weekend. I really was looking forward to seeing you and the girls."
"That's Ok, we miss you too and it would have been nice but maybe next weekend is better. Actually it will be perfect it you can make it a long weekend, Friday through Tuesday?"
