I found this abandoned air-ranch listed on Zillow while we were walking around a used auto part flea market. I showed the listing to the wife but the wife wasn't hearing it! How could she be so mean? I had just bought her a hot dog. She calmly explained: "We don't have the money and it's in the middle of nowhere!" I said: "It just dropped to $399K from $1M!" It was a Sunday afternoon and I was feeling impulsive so I told her I would buy her Mexican food if she just rode along with me to look at it. I said let's just look at it from the road, just for fun, and we we definitely wont buy it. She reluctantly agreed while she looked up Mexican food restaurant reviews on her phone and I drove in silence to avoid messing up the deal.
Four hours later we were on a dirt road in front of a barbed-wire fence. I opened the door of her little black Jeep and let the wife out to get a feel for the area. We didn't dare cross the fence for fear of being shot (you don't do that in the desert!). So we walked the perimeter and she made no expression of happiness or dismay at me. I kept my mouth shut and we drove to get her a Chimi and me some tacos. We drove home and I didn't push the issue.... much.
The next morning she woke up and said "I want that house!" I called my realtor (my brother's wife) and asked about a showing. The news was bad, the selling agent was booked-up since the price-cut and didn't have a showing for at least a week! She mentioned that it would most likely sell this week since her phone was ringing off the hook. The wife and I looked though the listing photos again and I picked up the phone and asked Liz (my realtor) to make a cash offer. I knew the property was in disrepair by the photos and no bank would want to finance it. The selling agent called Liz and said she had an opening for a showing later the same day. It was noon on Monday and the showing was at 3. A quick check of maps showed the drive-time to be just under 4 hours.
The Uniden R3 (Link in the description) showed no Smokey Bears as it hung in the windshield of the Jeep by it's freshly spit-wet suction cup. We were flying at exactly the speed limit towards the ranch. I had a 3 hour drive and that was good, I needed the time to think. See, I knew that a cash offer gave us an advantage in the offer pile. The only problem was we didn't have the cash! It was just the wife and I in the Jeep, the wind noise was terrible as was the hum of the KO2s threatening to send their tread into orbit.
We got to the front gate, my agent couldn't make it to the showing (stupid Liz, she had 45 min notice) so we were going to meet with the selling agent. Already at the gate was another black Jeep, in the ugly Jeep was a guy and gal waiting for their showing. It turns out we had made good time. We drove a quarter mile down the road to wait our turn while the two crooks wandered around my house! I hated them! The wife told me to calm down, I picked up a handful of sand and let it run through my fingers.
When we saw the stupid black Jeep pulled out of the drive way it was our turn. I thought about selling my Jeep because they just aren't cool as I drove up to the house. The realtor was great, we walked the property and we saw it needed ton's of repairs. Well, this should probably be a video of it's own. Long story short we sold our Jet-skis, my Pathfinder, cashed in retirement, and used whatever money I had from selling my business and we closed... this is that story, enjoy!
Uniden R4: amzn.to/4aK8FxY
/ herbomatic