PLUMBING PROBLEMS: PART III
PLUMBING PROBLEMS: PART III
I’m Joe Crestman, a thirty-eight-year-old research scientist working in the pharmaceutical industry. I’ve always loved to tinker, and with a scientist friend in another company, came up with a new technology for isolating mitochondrial DNA. We managed to patent the idea and were soon selling the technology to other companies, which resulted in a nice side income. I also managed to talk my boss into letting me work out of my home two days a week, crunching data and preparing papers. With the increased income and time away from the office, Laura and I decided to buy a house in the country. On a beautiful spring afternoon, driving down a narrow two-lane road, we saw the For Sale sign long before we saw the house. Just the seclusion had me sold. When we finally did see the house, we were both impressed. A long circular gravel drive led to a red two-story farmhouse set amongst tall oak trees. The house sat on a twenty-acre parcel of land with a barn and pond behind the house. The pond was more like a lake with a boat dock and small beach. We drove up to the house, looked inside and around the property, and immediately knew it was a house we could not afford. “Sorry honey”, I told Laura, “I think this house is way out of our league.” Laura’s a part-time real estate agent and knew from experience that I was probably right.
“Probably costs a ton,” she answered, “but I’m going to check it out anyway.” She copied down the realtor’s number, and we set out looking for more For Sale signs.
I forgot about the house, or at least tried to, because it was exactly what I wanted in a house and land. We had the extra income coming in but not enough to afford that house. My wife, however, went ahead and called the realtor. What she discovered shocked us. The house cost much less than we had anticipated. In fact, the house had been on the market quite a while and the price had been reduced several times. The house was up for sale since the owner disappeared; that’s all the realtor, new in the office, could tell us. The owner’s family wanted to sell the property as soon as possible and get on with their lives. Laura and I had found our dream house.
