The Resort Years - 10

Samantha, my recent office assistant, had several of those “middle of the night” phone calls while we were on a couple of trips and she had the phone on forwarding to her house – TP at 10:30 PM, an “emergency” for sure, but could you have known about it just a wee earlier.  I had a call once late at night for TP and I asked if they had checked the OTHER bathroom since that cabin had TWO – they had never thought of that!!  Then there were the folks who thought that making a reservation for Christmas was “an emergency” in July! 

Samantha had two small children who could come to work with her since we are a “contract station” and not a “real” post office.  The Post Office came with the property and contributes just about enough to cover the expenses.  It does mean that someone has to be “on premises” at least the four hours per day in the summer, providing information, toilet paper, trash bags, and collecting the revenue not put on the credit cards, giving tours to interested transients.  Samantha too is a pro at multi-tasking!  She even helped to plan a Fire Department Fundraiser – her husband was on the Pinecrest Fire Department as part of his job with the Pinecrest Permittees. 

We have always tried to time our “vacations” for the least busy times of the year, but this July 2013, we had TWO family reunions in Colorado in JULY!!  With the swimming pool to care for and guests rotating each weekend, Samantha had her hands full last summer I am sure.  And her little boy was starting 2nd grade mid-August.  But as usual, I did step on some toes in “laying her off” seeing that we were in Strawberry more than we were NOT once we returned from those weeks in Colorado. THEN, her husband went to work in So Dakota, but it is a two week on / two week off job with transportation provided!  So they have purchased a home in ID. It was good to see her at a recent wedding that she also helped to organize just prior to the move to ID, and we thank GOD that she was here as the mother of the groom who “was responsible” had spent four days in hospital the week of the wedding!!  Life is what happens while we are making plans!

Driving to Strawberry

Living in the parsonage in Sonora gave Tom a “walk to work” job and I was the one with the commute!  The thirty miles with a CD to keep me company, gorgeous scenery, and quiet time was a welcome time for me.  It was not a hardship by any means, except the escalating gas prices.  “Two different worlds, we live in two different worlds…” - old 60s song, but very appropriate.  The Subaru with all-wheel-drive was a perfect car for all seasons, and I found that I really enjoy driving.  I even overcame the tendency to fall asleep on the Long Barn double-wide section.  Good thing since I am now the primary driver!!  Tom spells me on long trips for an hour or two first thing in the morning, if his back didn’t keep him awake the night before!! We discovered that pain and lack of sleep were two of his “triggers” even with medication.  Depending on the medication, we could add sunlight, and lack of SALT!

It was not always easy being in two or three places at once – Resort reservations, Realtor, Pastor’s wife, and grandmother!!  I would be sitting at the Realty answering my cell phone “Rivers Resort, this is Martha, may I help you?” and anyone within earshot would raise their eyebrows!  Then I would answer the Realty Phone – “Sugar Pine Realty, this is Martha, how can I help you?” 

I was able to assist several Church members with the marketing of their homes pending moves to other, less expensive states.  It is never easy telling someone that they WILL NOT get every penny that they put into their “castle” when they go to sell it, and that the neighborhood does NOT warrant their asking price.  It is even HARDER when they are your friends and church members!

One of my first “Church member” Real Estate clients owned a very small home that backed on the old Sonora Cemetery.  I told the folks who called that they had very quiet neighbors, at least on that side of the house!! Amazing how many people did NOT want to live next to the cemetery…puzzling even!  Maybe it has something to do with acknowledging our own mortality.  The same reason some folks delay making a will, deciding how they want their remains “disposed of,”

or their “valuables” distributed.  “This world is not my home, I’m just a’passin through, my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue..” We did manage to sell the cottage by the cemetery and the friends moved to Washington State.

Finally, Real Estate went away.  It is not a cheap hobby with fees being over $1500 per year and that does not include gas or wear and tear on the vehicle.  Four of our seven grandkids were in the area and we often heard, with little advance notice, about baseball or basketball games (I now know how to access the SCHOOL websites to get the schedules in advance!) programs, babysitting opportunities, or ride necessities.  Being the “main driver” it fell to me to organize around the Post Office hours, activities at Church, and the occasional inspection or office tour for the Realty Office.

One of my coups involved a couple who gave me a price limit and after showing them everything in that range, they mentioned having taken a drive with their friend to an area where they saw an apple orchard for sale with house and guest cottage / hobby room built to host quilting classes with many outlets for the sewing machines.  I checked the MLS, we drove out there for a look, met the elderly widower who needed to move “down the hill” and no longer had the strength needed for the orchard work.  Nice man; tough situation.  My clients made the best offer that they possibly could; the listing REALTOR called me back immediately and said that her client said, “No way!”  The asking price was several hundred thousand over what they had initially given me to work from.  Their “best offer” closed the gap a bit, but not a lot.

I did something that I had never done before, asked if I could go and talk to the seller personally.  I later found that many agents do in fact present the offer in person to the seller, usually with the seller’s agent at the presentation.  The seller’s agent gave me permission, and I had a really nice chat with the man.  We compared notes about his age, service in WWII, and the fact that my father-in-law was in a similar situation on a farm seven miles outside of the nearest town.  He still rejected my offer, and I proceeded to go to the parsonage, feed the pastor, and made it to choir practice.  My cell phone had a message when I returned home late that night that the seller would work with my buyers after all.  Was it one of my last comments?  “You going to leave all that money to your kids to fight over?”   Or just my winning personality? 

I think it was a “GOD thing” as the buyers planned to use the orchard, house, and hobby room as a retreat center, inviting folks from their church groups in the Bay Area who could never afford to go to a vacation spot, to use the orchard house for needed rest and relaxation.  We even enjoyed a supper or two with them once the ink dried on the final papers!

That was the “sterling” experience of my eight years as a REALTOR, matched only by the LAST sale – a mobile home in Jamestown.  The buyer in this case had a LOT of WORK on his hands as the roof had been leaking under the swamp cooler.  I managed to negotiate a really good deal for him and my $1,000 commission to boot!  The owner of the park just wanted someone to be paying rent on the space since the single-wide was owned by the park following the death of the owner (fortunately not in the home!)

So, like Medical Transcriptionist, and book publisher, I can put “REALTOR” on my resume, been there – done that, and successfully for several years.

Now I was free to take Tom to visit the shut-ins, and to those last-minute-notice games and events.  I could pick up the grandkids from after-school club if son Tom was in the woods, and his wife Cindy was at work.