Where Ya From? Part 2

 

Where Ya From? Part 2

Immigrant success stories would not be complete without the story of my flipping partner. Flipping, not used as a derogatory description of him, but describing how we were partners. We bought run down houses and transformed them into beautiful, welcoming homes. And we flipped them.

It all started 25+ years ago when I was working at Coldwell Banker in Sunnyvale and Alfredo was a new agent in our office. He had heard that I was doing a flipper with a friend of mine. He approached me and suggested that if another property came along, he would be interested in working with me. Told me “I have the workers!”.

He had come from Mexico when he was 17 – didn’t know the language, got a job sweeping out an upscale market, became a butcher there, bought his first house when he was 20 when he was already a father. Became a real estate agent when he was 21 and the rest is history.

Well, a couple of months passed and another property did come along, I had a listing appointment at a perfect fixer, in other words, a dump. The condition was the worst I had ever seen. I ran into Alfredo in the office, (in those days agents went to the office) and I asked to meet with him in a conference room. I launched into a description of the house and he looked confused. “Why is this chick telling me about a crappy house?!” Apparently our previous conversation, when he showed interest in doing a flipper with me and told me “he had the workers” was totally forgotten. Anyway, I jogged his memory. We went to see the house, we bought it and that was the beginning of our little LLC.

We were newbies at flipping – the “workers” he had was one worker, Jose who would sometimes would bring a couple of helpers. I had a problem in that the guys would never clean up, so it was hard to see any progress. Progress at best was slow. I would go over and sweep up after them. One day I misplaced my broom and the guy working there asked how would I get home without my broom.

We were almost finished and Alfredo told me that we need Kohler. Huh? All the bathrooms were finished. We had agreed to using American Standard fixtures for the sake of saving money. And now we’re to redo with Kohler?! Oh no………...this can’t be and it wasn’t. Because our décor was my style – very subtle and neutral, he found it to be dull and he wanted to see more COLOR. Whew! Simple solution – we’ll stage the house with plenty of color.

Our little business continued to hum along, not without hiccups. You need to understand that we are both intense and opinionated! There was the time at Lowe’s when there was a little disagreement. Four burner stove or six burners – this happening in front of the poor woman helping us who was being subjected to Alfredo’s “charm” used to try to get some discounts. Me, the little woman expressing herself did not enhance his macho image. When leaving Alfredo’s patience was gone, he was furious, and he was raving at me that my problem was that I couldn’t control myself like he could! The bystanders had some laughs that day!

Natural light is a priority with me. Because I found so many of the houses dark and dreary, we put in plenty of light tunnels. Alfredo agreed to this, the cost of which was minimal - as opposed to starting WWIII. The lack of light issue ended after I had cataract surgery. I saw the light!

We continued our search for the WORST house in the best neighborhoods, spending hours picking out the perfect colors, fighting a lot and celebrating more! Anyway, we had a good run, 25 years with not one murder. And in Gus Khan’s fabulous lyrics in “It Had to be You”, with all your faults, I love you still!