Not This Time
13
Big Girl Panties
“I THINK WE SHOULD move the schedule up,” Jim said. “We could sell the apartments in your building now. Sort of a test market.”
“I can’t get a broker’s license for two more years. You know that.”
“I could hire a broker…”
“Jim, if you try to cut me out of this, I will ruin you.”
“You’re a little girl. You’ve had a good idea. But I can get anyone to do this. It’s not rocket science.”
“You think I’m a little girl, but I’ve got experience and resources that you can’t even imagine. In my head, I’m as old as you are. I just have the advantage of having that experience and this age. Don’t cross me, Jim.”
“You can be a hard bitch, can’t you?”
“Harder than you ever want to know.”
“Find a way, then. I want condos sold this summer. You’re such a hotshot, make it happen.”
“You damn betcha!”
The twenty units that I managed were a perfect place to start. I had to admit that. They were brand new renovations. Nothing had to be done to them. We would need a homeowner’s association that would include all the buildings that we sold. It would be a nightmare to manage a different association for every building. We’d need a good market analysis. I wanted to price our units just above what would be average for them. I wanted us on the high end of the scale. The craftsmanship of the restoration to original condition was way above the work that most new units had. Nowhere else could you find 1900s era housing that was in mint condition. I could sell these units.
“He what?” Lily screamed when I told her about my meeting with Jim. “I will go bitch on his ass!”
“I can do this, Lily. I will make a million dollars selling Loring properties. I know it will work and I will sell every one of them.”
“A million? What do I need to do to get a piece of this action?” she said. “You can’t mean that you could make a million in this old neighborhood.”
“These apartments will go for about sixty grand. I’ve looked at other properties Loring has. That old residence hotel across the street has units in it that will go for $500,000 when they’re fully renovated and modernized. Let’s assume that I’ll average $100,000 per sale for everything that Loring owns. He has over 2200 apartments right now and 500 are recently enough renovated that we could sell them. He can keep acquiring and renovating if we’re flipping them. So, 500 apartments times $100,000 is $50,000,000. I’m going to write this up so that I get a percent of every sale no matter what else happens or who sells it. That’s half a million. I intend to personally sell at least half of those units. 250 units at 100,000 is 25,000,000. Seller’s commission will be three percent.”
“Three? You only make a percent and a half on a listing!” Lily said.
“Thanks for reminding me of that. My base will be 1.5% instead of one. That makes the base closer to $750,000. Plus, another percent and a half for every sale I make. That’s another $375,000. Add those numbers up, honey. $1.15 million. I think I can do better than that. And I plan to sell it out in five years. My limit is only how many apartments are available. I need to show Jim that he can’t keep up with my sales,” I said.
“But what about the broker issue?” Lily asked.
“I’m going to talk to Gordon. After I take some precautions.”
Sunday evening dinner with Bruce was a success. I actually got home early enough from my open houses to help prepare the food. Lily had done most of the prep work while I was flitting among the ten houses I had open that day. And we made a sale! I’d owe the agent who was babysitting the house a referral fee, but I still made $3,000. It was a good day.
Lily was a wreck.
“What if he doesn’t like me?” she said. “I’ll move out. It’s okay. I love you. I’ll leave so he doesn’t feel he can’t have you.”
“Lily, shut up!” I said.
“But…” I dragged her to the bedroom and threw her on the bed. I’d never been so dominant with her. She was so taken by surprise that I had her pants off of her before she could protest and my tongue was buried in her pussy when she finished the sentence by saying, “…he’ll be here in five minutes.” That was the last she said before she came and came hard.
“Now you put your big girl panties on and get ready to serve our boyfriend dinner,” I snapped. The doorbell rang.
I greeted Bruce at the door and offered him my cheek to kiss without ever thinking about where it had just been. He inhaled sharply.
“Welcome to our humble little apartment, Bruce,” I said brightly.
“Thank you. I… um… like your perfume.” He handed me a bunch of flowers.
“Oh, my God! I… uh… borrowed it from Lily.” By the time all three of us were in the living room, we were all blushing. I excused myself to the bathroom and washed my face. Oh well. I wanted to let him know that Lily and I came as a package deal. I just didn’t intend to introduce her quite so intimately.
We had a nice stuffed chicken breast for dinner and I was pleased that Bruce had also brought a bottle of non-alcoholic bubbly. We all relaxed around the table. We didn’t talk about relationships or anything intimate. We just got to know each other better. I found out things about Lily that I hadn’t known before. Like that she really wanted to teach history, but got caught up in her job at the University and just couldn’t put it aside.
And I’ll give Bruce a lot of credit. When Emily started fussing and I popped a boob out to shove a nipple in her mouth, he didn’t even blush. I’d lived through an era where insane men kept trying to sexualize breastfeeding. I confess that being from a conservative background in an Upper Midwest town, I’d even taken the part of hiding women breastfeeding or making them go into a restroom. I have to say, this time around I had a different understanding. It wasn’t sexual. Putting a breast in my baby’s mouth was the exact equivalent of putting a bottle there. She was hungry. I was food.
Lily and I both kissed a rather dazed Bruce goodnight at our door. And then kissed each other. He invited Lily to sit in the light booth with Emily for the last show when I was working. It was soundproof, in case she fussed. I had a feeling she’d sleep through the whole thing.
“You bragged last summer that you would be the top listing agent in three months,” Gordon said. “If you hadn’t succeeded in that, I never would have signed this non-compete and non-disclosure agreement. I trust you know that there are holes in it. But I understand the intent, and I’ll abide by it. Now what has your panties in a bunch?”
“Five hundred listings.”
“That’s a great career goal, but…”
“In five years.”
“Shit! There isn’t even a builder in town who is turning out that kind of units. We’re not talking trailer parks, are we?” he said. I definitely had his attention.
“Condo conversions. Loring is ready to start converting all the renovations they’ve done in the past twenty years into condos. I can be the exclusive listing agent and will be the primary selling agent. But I need a broker who won’t try to take the project away from me. A million dollars for each of us, Gordon. You want in?” I said.
“You’ve already sold Sorenson on this. Why do you even want me?”
“I need a broker. At a discount.”
“And if I don’t take it, you’ll shop it to the competition. Shit! I don’t even know if we can handle that many listings. We’ll need a whole new office. I’ll have to staff it. Discount? I don’t think so,” he said. His pencil was scribbling on the pad of paper as fast as he was talking. I reached over and snatched it out of his hand.
“No office. No extra staff unless I hire them. Loring provides the sales office. It’s part of the deal. I’ve been looking at the regs and I believe we can even use non-licensed sales people. They will work on a straight salary with a nice little bonus for each sale. Flat. Not a percentage. Keeps them focused on making sales, not on high priced units hoping for the big one. Sell it for $500,000? $500 bonus. Sell it for $65,000? $500 bonus. You get one percent on everything. All you have to do is sign the contracts,” I said. Gordon grinned.
“I see some late nights for us in the next few weeks,” he said.
“Keep it in your pants, Gordon. I’ve already got a boyfriend. And a girlfriend. I just need to keep them in the style to which they’d like to become accustomed,” I said. “But we’re still going to have some late nights.”
“Tell Sorenson you’ve got the brokerage aspect covered. Let’s start putting together the numbers and what it will take. Don’t forget a marketing plan. He’s going to have to spring for advertising,” Gordon said. He snatched his pencil back and started making more notes. “You know you probably could have done this without a brokerage, the same as having sales associates instead of agents. It’s the equivalent of a sale by owner.”
“And cut you out?” I said feigning shock. “We’re honorable people here, Gordon. Remember?”
“Yeah. And I will remember.”
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