My Very First Real Estate Transaction - Youthful Solutions
I've written about the process of completing the sale of my late parents' farm. But, in 1974, I did my first real estate transaction, which was a completely different thing:
For the house I bought in California in 1974 for $20,000, there was no realtor involved, but the process was unique. The elderly woman who sold us her house would sell it only if she had a place to move to and rent. My wife and I lived in a small rental house about the same size as the one she was selling, and the rent was only $125 per month.
So, I called the landlord and asked him if he would write her a lease for at least two years. He agreed. Then, the elderly woman said, "But how will I move all of my things?" "Easy," I replied. " We'll move both houses' contents on the same day." "How?" she asked. I explained.
On the day the sale closed, I assembled every willing friend I could find, many of whom had pickups, along with a handyman the woman had hired many times, who had a large van. He volunteered to help for free, because he liked the woman. At 8 AM, we began loading up one room at a time from both houses, simultaneously, and then moved what was in that room to the equivalent room in the other house. I think we had 12 people and 5 trucks.
Both houses were small, maybe 800 sq. ft. and each had one bedroom and one bath. By 1 PM that day, everything, including a piano, had been swapped between the houses, with people cleaning each room as soon as it was emptied. So, the room swaps were made into clean spaces in each house. We had one van and some rolling clothes racks, so closet contents were moved as is and put in the other home's closet in the same order it came out from the other home. Dressers were moved with the clothing in them.
I was doing lifting and loading as one of the grunt workers. My wife and the girlfriend of one of our friends was directing furniture placement and cabinet filling as things were unloaded by the grunt workers. As far as possible, we placed everything as nearly in the same arrangement as it was in the previous house. Even the refrigerators were emptied and the contents moved between houses.
It was amazing. Then, everyone turned to moving and rearranging things with the residents present in their new homes. Windows got washed, floors got mopped, pictures got hung. A good deal of cannabis went up in smoke, as well.
At 4 PM, the entire job was done, and we ordered multiple pizzas, beer, and other refreshments at our new place, with the elderly woman there, as well. The whole day was one big happy party. We were all young and strong and willing, so it was actually pretty easy to pull off. The woman whose house we bought was very happy and said a couple of weeks later that she felt right at home in her new rental house, and had enough money to let her live there as long as she wanted. My wife and I immediately started planning renovations and remodeling of our new home.
By the end of the next week, our new house was no longer Pepto Bismol pink. It was Desert Sand in color. Over the next 30 years, I transformed it from a run-down stucco beach cabin into a magical stone-walled exterior cottage that offered huge surprises inside for anyone who had never entered the place. The young couple we sold it to in 2004 fell in love with it the moment they stepped through the front door, which I had handmade of redwood and pine with a stained glass window.
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