Adam nodded, though he seriously did not see himself doing that. This house had everything else he could possibly want.
“Let’s talk in here,” Diane said, turning back toward the kitchen. “A storm has rolled in.”
Adam nodded and went with her. The family that had owned this house had already moved out, and thus there was nowhere to sit—no bar stools, no dining room table, no couch.
“We can definitely pull more listings for you,” she said. “It’s a great time to be in the upper market where you are, as things have slowed down there quite a bit, and prices have fallen.”
He nodded, because he’d heard all of this at their meeting on Monday.
“I still think you’d be happy in the lakeside community,” she said.
Adam shook his head. “I don’t want to be behind a gate,” he said. “I’ve lived my whole life behind gates.”
Diane pursed her lips but nodded. She had short blonde hair that had started to turn white, and sharp eyes that missed nothing. She made a check mark on her clipboard. “Well, there’s definitely more houses here in Dog Valley, but I have to admit, this is probably the nicest one. Now, we could go up several hundred thousand dollars, and there are two or three homes here that are real showpieces.”
Adam shook his head yet again, starting to feel a bit robotic “I can’t imagine I’m going to need more house than this.” He swept his arms wide. “Thisis too big.”
She frowned and tilted her head. “It is everything you wanted, though. Big garage, front office, roomy spaces. You wanted mountains combined with contemporary charm. This is it.”
“Yes,” he said. “I did like the first house we looked at as well.”
She looked back at her list. “That one seemed very ‘neighborhoody’ for you.”
“Yes,” he agreed. The neighbors were quite close, and he didn’t mind, but he also wanted to have plenty of parking for when the Young brothers came for their meetings, and Adam really enjoyed his privacy. He wanted to sit on a back deck and sip coffee in his boxer shorts if he wanted to, and put in a hot tub that he sat in all winter long—and maybe he wouldn’t wear a swimming suit at all.
He grinned at his scandalous thoughts, and then smiled at Diane too. “I think this is it.”
“You want to put an offer in on this place?” she asked. “Now they’ve got it priced….” She flipped a page. “It’s actually really reasonable—right at market value. I’m not sure I could get them down anymore, though it has been empty for three months.”
Adam put his palm over her clipboard. “Diane, all cash. I want to move in as fast as possible.”
She blinked at him, surprised. “You don’t want to wait for an inspection even?”
“How long will an inspection take?” he asked. The window above the sink rattled, and both Adam and Diane looked at it. Yes, a storm had blown into town. He’d known it was coming as they’d been out and about, and he’d watched the sky darken and foam with every passing minute.
“I can usually get an inspector to come the very next day,” she said. “I could probably have someone here tomorrow. I don’t think you should buy a house without an inspection. Things can look really good on this side of the walls.”
“Okay,” he said. “I still want to put in an all-cash offer so I can move in as fast as possible. So if that means we speed along some aspects, then that’s what it means.”
“Well, they’re not living here,” she said. “So I can’t imagine that they’ll care when you move in. And you won’t need a bank loan, so as soon as we can get things underwritten, you should be done.”
“How long, do you think?” he asked.
Diane sighed and shook her head. “It’s impossible toknow, Adam. Some people aren’t as motivated to get deals done, but I’d like to say…two weeks.”
“Two weeks,” Adam said, his impatience already rearing inside him. “I suppose I can wait two weeks.”
“I’ll get the offer in,” she said. “Right at asking….” She glanced at him, her eyebrows raised.
“Do you think that they would be more motivated to take an all-cash offer?” he asked. “Perhaps we could go lower because it’s cash.”
“Let me text Jonathan,” she said, turning half away from him to do that, and Adam turned to survey the house again. It had beautiful bones and a pretty face, and Adam could already feel it seeping into his soul. He wasn’t sure what that meant, because he’d made very few decisions with his heart in the past. He did trust his feelings, and he’d followed his gut a lot.
He once again thought of dinner with Joey’s grandparents. He wasn’t sure why that single experience had made such an impact on him, but it felt tattooed in his heart. Adam had not given much thought to prayer or religion or church in a great many years, though his mother was devout and attended services every week. He’d been brought up reading the Bible and serving others, but he’d given all that up the moment he’d left home.
A yawning, yearning hole opened up inside him, and Adam had no idea what it meant. He wouldn’t know the first thing about going to church, and yet, something inside him pointed him in that direction.
“Jonathan thinks we can knock fifteen thousand dollarsoff if we go in with all cash,” Diane said, and Adam turned away from his thoughts, glad for the distraction.
