Little Roof Jumpers

Chapter 30 Our First Home

Brooks, Penelope and I lived in our apartment for two years while I was saving money to buy a home we were nearing the end of our second lease when I made a deal with my boss to buy a spec home he was building in their new subdivision. I couldn't believe it we weren't just buying any home, we were building our new home in a prestigious new subdivision called, "Sanctuary." When I took the kids to see the house they were happy but when I showed them the club we would belong to that had a pool, three ponds and two tennis courts they were elated. So was I! There were professors, business owners, doctors and Thornhill's basketball coach all lived in our new neighborhood. We were definitely moving up.

My boss Jason Novak built our new home a three bedroom two bathroom, ranch with cathedral ceilings and a two and a half car garage seventeen hundred fifty square feet just for us. Our new home was a beautiful light brick with taupe siding the front porch had a white chair rail and was wide enough for my whicker loveseat and chair. The sidewalk that connected the driveway to the front porch curved and had flowerbeds on each side that were mulched and beautifully landscaped with Greek Juniper bushes, Hostas and Barberry bushes. Our backyard slanted down a small hill, the landscapers planted pine trees on the side of our deck. We had four Cottonwood trees planted in the backyard for shade.

We were excited and preparing to move when I received a call from the bank my loan was denied. The only way I could buy the house was if I had a co-signer my base pay wasn't enough for loan approval and commission couldn't be counted as regular income. When Jason found out the bank turned down my loan because it was too much for my income he came up with a plan.

Jason would loan me twelve thousand dollars on a second mortgage if I could find a co- signer for the bank mortgage. My income even with twelve thousand off the cost of thehome was still too low. The majority of my income was from sales and commission was figured differently than wage income. I asked my dad if he would co-sign but he said, "No." Dad had co-signed car loans for both of my brothers and both burnt him. My mother believed in me and for once in my life she did something for me that dad told her not to do, she co-signed my loan.

I only needed a co-signer for a year if I made all my payments on time they would take my co-signer off at the end of the year. I did as promised and made the mortgage payments on time by selling more condominiums in a single year than I ever had before. We were off to a good start but I was worried about our future I really needed to find a job that wasn't so dependent on commission. The management position at Bay Pointe now paid me six dollars an hour for forty hours a week. It took much more than forty hours a week to manage Bay Pointe.

The emergency calls from the answering service were routed to me so I could determine what action we should take. Student apartments require a great deal of after hour's responsibility for the property manager. The students have parties and just get drunk and stupid. With three hundred students living at Bay Pointe there was a whole lot of stupid going on? Thursday, Friday and Saturday were the big nights, the security guard could calm a party down and keep order in the complex but the safety concerns were mine. For example the students would kick out the guard rails at the end of the hallways or the stairs, smash the exterior hallway lights, drive through the entry fence, kick in their own entry doors and fist fight with their friends.

Bottle rocket fights from one building to another was a common occurrence along with beer bottles thrown off of the balconies. We had one security guard when we probably needed two or three, he couldn't do it all, so I was on call too.

By attending Business to Business, the Chamber of Commerce and Apartment Association meetings the other business owners were getting to know me as a devoted employee. Soon I was asked to run for the Vice President of the Apartment Association. I won and felt honored and was eager to learn more about the industry by attending State meetings. If you want job offers you have to make yourself visible. Other business owners were now calling on me for lunch and proposing job offers that paid more and had less demand on my time.