Victorian Dreams Pt. 01

"Our office receives a lot of inquiries on the property, but after the inquirer starts looking into the property, they discover the local legends and, any time my agents or myself spend on the property was therefore, wasted. After ten years of spinning my wheels on the property, I am not prepared to waste a lot of time with its sale."

"The owner had considered tearing down the building and selling the land for its value, but the state historical society had gotten a court injunction preventing that move. Yet they won't do anything to restore the place or improve its salability."

"The owner, is clearly frustrated, so he has just dropped the asking price from $125,000 to $50,000, in an attempt to sell before the taxes came due again. This price makes the sell a loss to the owner even though he had inherited the property. Ten years of tax payments had become a drain, and the owner is even considering letting the property go for default on the taxes."

This fact alone would prove favorable to Haley, even if the other circumstances weren't available to help.

Haley felt her excitement level growing as the broker rambled on about how the property had become a resource drain to all those associated with it. She asked the broker for a tour of the property.

"I will meet you there and unlock the door, but I won't tour the building with you. Further you must sign a release holding my brokerage, the owner, and me harmless for any harm that might befall you while you are on the property."

Haley agreed to those terms and they set an appointment to meet at the property the next day at noon.

Haley arrived at 11:30 and took a brief walking tour of the property before the broker arrived. In the back was a water well. It was quaint and resembled a wishing well, and Haley already had plans in her mind to build a gazebo around it and label it a wishing well.

The property was beautiful and potentially gorgeous with huge stately oak trees and panoramic views of the surrounding valleys with its prominence on the highest hilltop around. It needed a lot of gardening to realize its potential, though. The shrubs that surrounded the house, especially on the west side were so dense they could easily be labeled a bramble.

Haley couldn't remember 'domesticated shrubs' ever getting so dense, yet the property certainly had prospect especially as a potential B n B.

The broker apologized for being late when it was nearly one before she arrived.

"My car had mechanical difficulties, which isn't all that unusual when I am coming out here. It is almost as if the house doesn't want me to come here. In the ten years I have represented the property I have always driven new cars, never more than a year or two old. The only time I seem to have trouble with them was when I am coming to 'the house'!"

She stressed the label as she spoke.

Her current car was a new Cadillac so that was the only reason she could give to explain why she seemed to always have car trouble when she was en route to 'the house'.

It was obvious to Haley the older woman had bought into the urban legends that surrounded the house and she figured that could work to her advantage.

She signed the release and took the key to take her tour. The broker said she would wait in her car, very obviously afraid to get too near 'the house'.

The old massive door creaked on its hinges as Haley swung it open to reveal an entry foyer with two large arched doorways on either side and a large ornate staircase leading upstairs.

The house smelled as one would expect with a musty odor of stale uncirculated air and yet there was another burnt smell that Haley couldn't identify. This dank, fetid, burnt odor predominated, but Haley felt certain a day or two of the windows and doors all open and a thorough cleaning would remove most of the offensive odors.

The room to the left as she walked in was a large sitting area, and the room on the right, a formal dining room. Off the dining area was a large plantation style kitchen.

Behind the grand staircase was a small bedroom that Haley figured was likely servant's quarters. There was also an entry to a stairway that led down to a basement room, off the kitchen.

Haley followed the stairs downward.

Her descent was halted when she encountered a door several steps down. Unusual to place a door in the middle of a staircase she thought, but more than that. The door wasn't locked, instead boards had been nailed to the frame of the door precluding it being opened. It all appeared rather hastily erected.

The girl retreated to the main floor again and looked around. Other than the smell and a healthy layer of dust the interior was in surprisingly good repair.

This was not in keeping with the state of apparent disrepair of the exterior of the house.

An added plus was all the furniture most of it original looking antique was still in place and seemed in good repair. Testing the fabric on one of the settees in the parlor room Haley discovered the fabric didn't seem rotted, as one would expect from an antique such as this.

She toured the upstairs and other than an unexplained chill on the third floor, found nothing out of the ordinary, except the odd burnt smell seemed stronger there.

The second floor was mostly bedrooms or rooms that could be easily converted to bedrooms. The same was true of the third floor.

This was fortuitous considering Haley's plan to convert the old house into a B 'n B.

All the rooms seemed to contain original furnishings. On every floor the hardwood seemed to need only to be swept and mopped to be restored to its original brilliance and beauty.

Her college-educated mind on interior design had her appraising the possibilities of a bustling B 'n B.

She exited the tour of the house with an offer in mind. The exterior needed a lot of work, the owner was desperate, and all this worked in her favor.

The broker got out of her car and approached as Haley strode the massive front verandah as she concluded her tour, but stopped short of the steps, obviously not willing to get any closer to 'the house'.

When Haley stepped from the last step and into the yard, the broker queried as to her inspection.

"So what do you think?"

"I like the place and the only thing I couldn't look at was the basement." Was her reply.

"The owner sealed it when he visited and has left instructions it is to remain sealed until sold." The broker explained.

Haley seized on this deviation from what would normally be considered routine and made note of the anomaly.

"The sealed basement could indicate major structural damage or foundation instability. I must insist on inspecting the basement." Haley wasn't actually afraid of what the basement might reveal in the way of needed repairs, she was merely laying the foundation for her offer.

"The owner left very specific instructions regarding the basement." was the Brokers reply.

"Are the furnishings included in the sale price?" she asked.

"The owners instructions are the house sells as is, all furnishings, any needed repairs, etc." was the broker's reply.

Haley firmed up the situation in her mind and made her offer pitch.

"The exterior will need a lot of restoration, the interior not as much, though some will be necessary."

Haley intentionally made it sound worse than it actually was.

"The basement is an unknown. So out of an abundance of caution I must assume the worse case and say that will require extensive repair, and perhaps require foundation repair."

"I understand your position on the basement, but I can't violate the wishes of the owner on leaving it sealed."

"I understand."

"My offer is $45,000." Haley held her breath and tried to keep the eagerness of her anticipation to a reply hidden, her poker face was difficult to maintain, but she managed to do so.

"The owner is asking $50,000. Even if you only fix up the exterior and use it as a historic sight that can only be viewed and photographed from the outside, it is a bargain."

"If he were willing to put any effort into the house he could likely get a quarter of a million for it, from location alone. He is only asking $50,000 because he isn't willing to put the time and effort into the place, That is less than a third of its actual value, and only a fifth of its potential value in real estate terms alone, but I will take your offer to him and see what he says."

The broker too, it appeared was trying to keep a poker face, but Haley read in her eyes a sense of relief the property might finally sell.

"All things considered, I am only willing to go $45,000, and I think that generous considering the state of repair of the place, and the fact the state historic society won't allow the house to be torn down so the land can be exploited for its real estate value. And we've already covered the potential of there being significant problems in the basement."

The haggle was on and though Haley had never negotiated for the purchase of property, she handled the negotiation like a seasoned pro.

In the final analysis, the broker filled out an offer document for the offered amount of $45,000 and had Haley sign and post a $100 non-refundable deposit to seal the deal on the property.

Though a lot of what she was saying was just 'sauce for the goose' in the negotiation, Haley also considered a lot of other possibilities she didn't reveal to the Broker.

Chapter 6

"I'm not an antique dealer, Carla, but if the basement is really bad, I think selling the furnishings to an antique dealer could likely recoup my investment completely if not make me a little on top of that."

"Watch yourself Haley. You are probably right, but antiques are not your area, and I see the blinders coming out." Carla replied, not being negative as a lack of support for her friend's position, but only because her friend could get rather closed-minded about things when she got like this on a project.

Haley all but ignored her roommates negativity and continued with the thoughts she had amassed after the inspection and discussion with the broker earlier that day.

"If the basement turns out to reveal extensive foundation damage, making the building uninhabitable, the Texas historical society would have a hard time getting an injunction against the building's destruction to stick, I would think. Then I could either get their aid to accomplish any repair or tear the house down and exploit the property for its land value."

All in all in Haley's mind there was no way to lose on the deal.

What she couldn't know was the loss potential on the house was greater than could be explained with mere dollars and cents calculations and estimations.

The Broker called Haley the next afternoon.

"The owner accepted your offer. I had to talk to him to get him to come off his $50,000 asking price. He was hung up on the asking price only being about a third of the value of the property on the tax rolls. I pointed out to him the sealed basement left open the possibility a new owner would have to do extensive repair work. I convinced him that unless he was willing to open the basement for inspection, he should take this offer as it was the only one ever tendered and the cost of extensive repair to the basement could easily exceed the $5000 disparity in the ask and offered prices."

The owner had become extremely amenable when the subject of the basement came up, and not only accepted the offer, but promised to work with the buyer if any difficulty were encountered acquiring financing.

This was fortuitous for try as she might, Haley could not get any one to fund the mortgage on the property.

Though Haley was offering a 1/3 down payment, using her signing bonus from the architectural firm for that purpose, and the property was easily worth three times the negotiated price, no lender was willing to loan money on the property.

Even lenders that recognized she was right out of college and normally accepted college credentials in lieu of a long credit history to extend credit.

It seems the legend that existed with the house was fairly well known among mortgage lenders in the state.

No out-of-state lenders were willing to extend credit on a house nearly 100 years old, regardless its historical significance.

In the final analysis, the owner carried the paper on the house. Accepting the $15,000 down payment and a note that called for interest at prime and two more annual installments of $15,000 until the property was paid for. There was an incentive in the contract that said if both payments were made on time the interest would be waived, making it a zero interest loan.

"This mortgage paper the owner is offering is extremely generous Miss Baxter." The real estate attorney in the office of her trust attorney said after he read the document.

"Interest at prime, interest relief for prompt payment of the installments, and no default terms or conditions. Once the contract is executed the owner was compelled to wait until you can pay regardless of how long that takes. This works in your favor if the idea of a B n B failed to generate $15,000 per year. You can even sell to pay off the original note. The only possibility of the owner reclaiming the property is in the case of default on taxes."

The attorney conceded the 'sell for relief' clause was probably of little value when you considered the court injunction against destruction of the house.

"As the owner of record until the house is paid for and the deed transferred to you the 'tax default' clause is likely in the contract to protect his credit rating from damage if you fall on extreme hard times. I advise you accept the generous contract."

Haley and the broker signed the contract the next day, and a copy was delivered to her signed by the owner two days later.

That was a Friday and Haley decided to occupy the next day.

That was 6-weeks earlier.

Chapter 7

Haley had moved her things into the place the next day and had taken up residence in the servant's quarters on the first floor. She had thoroughly scrubbed the rooms on the ground floor and the house was beginning to take shape.

Only a couple of things had occurred, that on careful review might be considered untoward, yet, even they could be explained away just as easily.

She had hired a landscape team to clean up the property. Of importance was the bramble that grew on the west side of the house. Haley reasoned in order to start renovation and restoration she must be able to get to the house to work. That wasn't possible with the overgrown ornamental shrubs on the west side.

"They are Agarita, a native Texas shrub that requires little cultivation, yet I have never seen them flourish like these." The foreman of the landscape crew explained.

"They have probably not been tended in nearly 100 years." Haley replied.

"That is probably why their growth had turned jungle like, reverting to a native form rather than a cultivated variety."

He found no literature to suggest even untended Agarita would grow so explosively, though. He researched to find the best way to prune the shrubs to preserve their landscape potential, yet bring the surly growth under control.

In the final analysis, when he couldn't find any literature that represented Agarita growing so vigorously.

A few days later he was explaining a proposed course of action to Haley.

"Agarita could grow to heights of up to 7 feet, yet some of these plants were approaching 12 feet in height. They don't normally grow very dense or compact, yet these are as thick as any bramble. I think we should take them back to ground level and then tend them as they recover."

"You are the expert. I would like to not have to redo the landscaping, if at all possible, but do what has to be done." Haley advised the foreman.

When the crew of workers, mostly Hispanic, waded into the mess and started pruning late one afternoon, they discovered a mass of thorny growth not normally associated with Agarita.

They didn't start until late afternoon, and the unrelenting Texas sun on the west side of the house made it impossible to work in the mass for long.

A slight improvement had been noted when they withdrew and packed up for the day saying they would tackle it again the next morning, while the house blocked the rays of the sun.

In the cool of the morning shade the crew started into the mass again. It almost appeared as if the mass had regenerated overnight and they hadn't touched it the previous afternoon.

By noon they were making clear progress though, but the entire crew was bloodied and looked as if they had been in a minor skirmish.

Only one of the Hispanic workers spoke any English, and then broken at best, and when Haley made comment about the bloodied condition of himself and his co-workers, she thought she understood him to say, it was as if the thorn bearing plants were attacking them as they cut through the mass.

"Es possession de El Diablo"

Haley understood very little Spanish, but being raised in Texas had learned a small amount of the almost native language and thought she understood him to say the shrubs were possessed by the devil.

The foreman was at a loss to explain the thorns on the Agarita.

"Perhaps it was another native species in a symbiotic relationship. Perhaps a shade loving variety that grew after the Agarita flourishing started to create a significant shady area. In return the naturally decomposition of the thorny mass fed the Agarita."

This seemed possible to Haley, especially since the thorn bearing masses weren't visible from the exterior of the mass.

By noon, most of the mass had been reduced to a pile of mulch, chewed up in the massive grinder the Mexican workers fed it into as they pruned the growth, seemingly into submission.

By early afternoon, the west side looked almost presentable, and Haley had noted a set of windows at ground level.

Crawling through what remained of the shrubby growth, she peered in to get her first look at the barricaded basement.

The basement had not yet received her attention in her efforts to restore the house. It remained boarded, just as it had been the day she toured the place.

She could discern nothing looking through the dingy windows, with years of dirty buildup both inside and out.

The next morning the west side mass had re-grown significantly, so Haley had the landscape foreman instruct the crew to dig them out completely. By mid morning the west side of the house was denuded of shrubs.

Haley also noted none of the crew seemed to be the original men who had started on the property, with the exception of the foreman.

When she asked, the foreman explained all the original crew had come down with a mysterious illness after working on the mass on the west side of the house.

Being a bit cynical of the itinerant, undocumented aliens from south of the border, his comment reflected a slight prejudice perhaps,

"Laziness and the fact the mass had been rather labor intensive to work in. These beaners aren't very reliable if they have to work too hard."

Haley didn't appreciate the racial slur, but figured she couldn't change the foreman's attitude by scolding him. So she just gave him further instructions regarding the project.

"Instruct your crew to remove all the shrubs and though I don't want to have to redo the landscaping, I will go with a different variety when the restoration is concluded and I return to the landscaping."

By days end the property looked in good shape except the house looked strange with no landscape shrubs to decorate it.

This cleared the way for Haley to begin restoration on the exterior. She started on the verandah and after nearly a week, had it looking almost pristine again. She decided working in the Central Texas heat though, was not to her liking so she would concentrate on the interior and save further exterior work for the cooler months that would come in the fall and early winter.