Real Estate Financing...

For purposes of privacy, I will refer to this ex Loan Officer as JB.  It is a story I think of everytime I hear Tom Petty's tune 'Into The Great Wide Open.'  JB was a good old lad.  My first encounter with him was over 5 years ago when I first started here at FCEGI.  As I was working my way in, on a part time basis, JB had been here just 6 months (with no prior sales experience) and made about $25,000 in change out of the shoot.  Not bad for a true newbie.  JB was great on the phone, had a very amicable personality, a very trusting demeanor, and looked the part of a true professional.  He had all the potential and smarts in the world to go along with being a genuinely nice guy.  Enter the demons....

JB's weakness was he abided a bit too much in the bitters.  That's right, the old alcoholic beverage seemed to erect the demons inside and ruin any sense of making that potential into a reality.  Certain things affect individuals differently, from everything I had heard, the combination of JB and booze was about as detrimental to his life performance as shooting pool with a rope.  To boot, he had gotten in good on a lease purchase deal and was on his way to buying a home.  But after 6 short months, old JB lost it, went array, fled to Georgia for no specific reason at all.  He defaulted on the lease purchase and by the time I started full time, was just another ex-employee here at FCEGI.

Fast forward 3 years.  The senior partner gets a phone call from good old JB.  He's been clean for a full year and wants to come back home, not only to his family, but to FCEGI.  He's brought on-board once again and perches back with me in the domain we name, 'The Boilerroom'.  Out of the shoot again, old JB is on a roll.  Taking apps, registering & closing loans, all as if it is just riding a bike to him.  Quite the inspiration he was.  I finally got to know him this time around and learned a lot, about life, his past, his mistakes, his outlook, and all that.  My own performance started to enhance just by working with him.  Back then, I didn't have a ride, so JB picked me up every day and we worked like the hairs on our heads were on fire.  We drove eachother. Since he was clean, he was a joy to watch produce....especially considering he hadn't even been in the business a full year.  After six months, he had made over $30,000 and had a pipeline that was very active and quite extensive.  The future was bright...

He found another lease/purchase deal through a family friend and wanted a roomie, so I moved in.  Things were going good.  But life with old JB got to be a tad interesting.  While he took great pride in the house, decorated like he had worked as a 'Stager' in a former life, and did some great improvements, he gradually fell back into the oft times dreary spell of 'The Disease.'  Or as Gordon Lightfoot may sing, "Sometimes I think it is a shame when I get feeling better when I'm feeling no pain."  He soon began defaulting on financial obligations, missing work, passing out at odd ends of the house, and generally losing the sober edge that was so impressive to watch.  He left FCEGI to become unemployed, out of money, and soon old me started to flip the bill for expenses to the house just to make sure the roof wasn't swiped from over my head.  And then, he disappeared.  His possesions still there, once again defaulting on another lease/purchase and putting the family friend whom agreed to it in a financial bind.  Though I felt bad for the demons dreaming inside of him, I was quite angered at being thrown under the financial bus.  Though, in the same breath, I must say JB taught me an intangible...the fire that burns within.  You see, I thought I had lost it.  I thought I had lost me even at one point.  Yet, I beared down and took control of the house, the finances, and since meeting JB...my production has increased 10 fold.  And I'm not angry anymore, last time I heard after JB's disappearance, he was in Canada married?!?  He ignored most of the emails I had sent him, some of anger, some of concern, some of 'Are You Alive?'   I knew though he had always taken pride in the places he lived, his possesions and such.  So, me being me, I had one parting shot....one final email to the guy whose demons directly affected me by putting a bunch of things on my lap that I didn't sign up for.  A heavy load.  I felt like Santa Clause, staring across the way at Mama Cass with ham sandwich in tow.  My parting shot to JB went as follows....verbatim...

Hey man just wanted to see how you were doing.  My weekend was ok.  Had a party at the house, all was well until some jack off put a cigarette burn in the couch.  Not to mention the breaking of glassware which in turn cut my foot and bloodied up the carpet.  Luckily, only one of the walls has a small hole in it.  I was that pissed at the whole situation. The fridge from Rentway came in handy though to hold all the party favors until it started pouring outside, not sure if that fridge is going to hold up now.  I knew it was a bad idea to unplug it and put it outside next to the porta potty.  The next morning a buddy and some very robust half naked woman came meandering down the stairs with that familiar glow.  Haven't had the nerve to see what surprises they may have left up there.  Ahhh, what are you going to do?  Hope your 4th was well.  Live and learn, that house just is not meant for 30 people and some idiot who brought his dog and conveniently forgot to let it out.  I'll try to clean that mess up over the weekend.  Take care.

Never heard back from JB.  And none of my email was really true, but it felt good to be more tongue in cheek than (I'll leave that analogy alone).  While I hope his life took a turn for the better, I guess life works stranger than fiction.  As irony would have it, I am buying the same house I moved into with JB.  Closing early December. Knowing JB was a double-edged sword, in the end though, if JB is somewhere reading this.....Thanks man.  I learned a lot and feel free to email me, eh!