Moving Up the Property Ladder

By Beej & Atonia

Richie left Nonnie’s shop and walked up the street to the bank, he checked his watch he was right on time to see Max Skinner about a mortgage. He pulled the assessment from his inside jacket pocket and opened the door to the bank. He hadn’t spent a lot of time in the bank, Miss Peeg took care of his accounts but he had made a few withdrawals from the counter.

He walked up to the counter now, “Hey, I’m here to see Max Skinner.”

Bobbie looked up from her paperwork and smiled. "G'Day, Mr. Roberts, you're right on time.  If you'd like to take a seat, I'll let him know you've arrived.

Max was reading the local paper when his internal phone beeped.  "What's up, Bobbie?"

"Mr. Roberts is here for his appointment, Max. Would you like me to bring him up?"

"Yes please.  If there are no customers about could you lock the door for a couple of minutes and maybe get the kettle on?  Don't think I'd give a very good impression if I abandon him to do it myself."

"You'd better put the paper away, get your feet off the desk and put your shoes back on then," she joked at her boss, putting the phone down as she was warned that he would get her back for that.  She went around the counter and locked the doors.  "If you'd like to follow me, Mr. Roberts."

She knocked on Max's door and showed Richie through.  "Hello, Roberts; good to see you.  Can I offer you a coffee?"

 “Hey, Max yeah coffee sounds good,” He turned and smiled at Bobbie as she closed the door. “I don’t get up here often, Miss Peeg takes care of all my banking but I found a house and I guess I’m looking at a mortgage.” Richie looked around and found a seat.

“I had surveyor go over the property and it’s been assessed,” he lay his papers on Max’s desk.

Max picked up the paperwork and began to read.  Bobbie came in with the coffee and a plate of cookies.  She smiled at Richie as she handed him a cup and plate, then left the men alone.  Max looked up over his glasses.  "Make yourself comfortable, Richie, while I go through this report, then I'll be with you.  You'll understand that I always read all the small print," he smiled and continued reading.

 Richie smiled, “yeah the small print is usually the kicker,” he sipped his coffee and glanced around Max’s office noting the picture on his desk of Ceri he smiled a little to himself and munched a cookie. He’d already been over the papers himself but then he wasn’t the banker.

Settling back in his chair he looked at the floor, the desk and tilted his head, a pair of loafers indicated the banker was barefoot.

Max finished reading through the reports and looked across at Richie, grinning.  "Alright, I know you've already been through it with a fine toothed comb, but you're the legal end and I'm the financial end.  This all seems to be in order, and it looks like you've found a nice place; far enough out to have your privacy, but close enough to get in to work easily.  That's what we love about our place, but Ceri being one of the four beneficiaries, she was able to get a prime spot, and between the four cousins, the shares of all the land sales and rents from some of the businesses has become a nice little earner on the side for them."  Max stopped talking when he noticed Richie's eyes being drawn to the same spot under his desk.  He laughed when he realised what Richie had spotted.

"Ah...you've spotted my guilty pleasure.  There's nothing more delightful than taking one's shoes off in the office. Bobbie warned me to put them back on before you got here.  I guess I should have known better than to try and hide something from an ex-detective."

 Richie grinned, “Your secret is safe with me. I’ve actually handled a good bit of the land sales through my office, it’s a growing community.

“Yeah the house is okay for me ya know, needs a little updating but I think that’s always the case unless you build. It’s closer to Nana
Glen than I wanted but real estate is hard to find out here. I figured if I get approved for the loan, I’d better jump on it. Shouldn’t be hard to figure me out,” he grinned, “all my shit is in your bank.”
 

Max opened his top drawer and pulled out a fair sized file.  He made a great show of studying all the facts and figures that it held, then snapped it shut and placed it on his blotter in front of him. Leaning forward, resting his arms on top of the file.  "Well now, everything seems to be in order, business is good by the look of it, and you have a good healthy income.  Both your business and your personal accounts are always in credit, and you're a good age to be thinking of settling down in your own property.  I think all we need to do is work out just how many years you want the mortgage over, then I can give you the relevant figures, Richie."

He had the loan, Richie took a breath, “Um I’m thinking fifteen years, yeah fifteen years, Max.” It was too easy he didn’t even have to work up a sweat in anticipation. He smiled a little uncertainly.
 

Max checked the purchase price of the property, then called up a table of figures on his computer screen. For a few minutes, the only sound in the room was the clack of the keys as Max's fingers flew over them.  He smiled and turned the screen to Richie, then sat back in his chair.  "I've done a comparison chart for you, Richie.  Three charts, one for ten years, one for fifteen and the last for twenty.  As you can see, the ten year plan has a higher monthly payment, but you save a lot on interest, the twenty year payments are a lot less, but you'll end up paying more.  The fifteen year plan is acceptable, but you'll still be paying more interest than you need. The projection for your future earnings is this," he clicked the mouse and another set of figures popped up on the screen.
 

"As you can see, you can afford the repayments on any of the three plans.  If you need time to think about it, I can print everything out for you to take back to your office."  He steepled his fingers and waited for Richie's reply.
 

“Oh, okay well let’s go with ten years then, I don’t need to think about it. The longer I think the worse off I am, I’ve never actually bought a house with land before, only an apartment in Jersey. The place we had out here was Toni’s.” He rubbed his palms on his jean clad thighs. “I’m about to have new homeowner jitters.”

"Good choice, Richie. I don't think you'll have any problems keeping up the payments, but I can always put in a provisory that you can switch to fifteen years if you need to.  Owning an independent bank means I can make up my own rules. I know what you mean about going from an apartment to a property with land.  I went from one in London, rather a plush place actually, to here with Ceri and more land than I could ever imagine.  I also have a chateau in Provence, but that was left to me by my uncle, so I didn't have to work at paying for that one.  I would have taken Ceri there if she hadn't been left a quarter share of the Glen.  Anyway, back to business, you want another drink while I get Bobbie to print up all the paperwork?"

“Um no I don’t think I need any more caffeine. While we’re waiting on that I have another question I’d like to ask you about investing some money. You know Ben Wade of course and this new gambling place he’s opening between here and Coffs. He’s um asked me to invest in it. I’m not necessarily concerned about losing any money because knowing him it would be a win win situation. Legally on the quiet I have checked it out, it’s a legit operation, I’ve not found anything that suggests otherwise…I guess I’m just a little leery of it, what would you advise?”

"An interesting question, Richie.  I think the question you need to answer is how much involvement do you want to have in this?  Do you just want to be a small investor or do you want to be a partner, silent or otherwise.  I'm glad you've done a check on it.  Ben Wade seems to be very good at whatever he does, and he's extremely wealthy, which makes me wonder just why he needs an outside investor.  Perhaps it's because you used to be a cop and are now a lawyer.  You would be an honest, upright investor that he could flaunt.  I can't tell you what to do, Richie, and I'm not saying anything against Wade, he seems a nice enough bloke, but if he'd asked me to invest, I would have to think long and hard before signing on the dotted line."

“Yeah, kinda what I thought too, if I do it will only be as a small time investor, I’m not looking to link my name with his in any big way.” He realized what he’s just said, “Oh, well I guess it’s my former life you know, that gut feeling you get sometimes.” He smiled and picked up another cookie.
 

"I think that is a wise choice, Richie.  It's good to play safe.  I believe in gut feelings, they're usually right."  Max looked up as there was a knock at the door.  "Ah, here's Bobbie with the papers; thanks. Love," he looked at his watch before continuing.  "You can cash up now and then get off home, I know you have some studying to do."
 

He took the papers from her and smiled as she said goodbye to Richie before giving him a little wave as she shut the door.
 

Richie looked from Bobbie to Max and smiled while he shuffled the papers around, “Nice looking kid,” he said, “is she a student?” Not that he was interested he had more than he could handle down at the Gifts and Antiques shop.
 

"Yes, she's very attractive isn't she, and she takes the trouble to get to know all our customers.  It's always busier the three days she's on duty during the week.  She's about to take her finals at the veterinary college, and when she passes she's going to open up a practice here in the Glen.  I'm sure she'll have her hands full, but she wants to continue working here as well,"  Max stopped for a moment, lost in thought.  " Can’t tell you how worried I was when I thought I was going to lose her.   Keep telling her I want to promote her, but she refuses to work away from the customers."
 

He looked through the papers she'd given him, knowing that everything would be in order, but checking out of habit. Tidying them into a neat pile, he handed them to Richie.  "Take your time reading through, Richie," he grinned.
 

Richie scanned through the papers until he came to the last page, “this is where I sign?” He pulled out his pen and signed his life away for the next ten years, pushing the papers across for Max to witness, “You’ve made this whole process way to easy, Max.” 

Max unscrewed his favourite fountain pen and witnessed Richie's signature, turning the sheet over and blotting it before stacking the papers in a neat pile before placing them in the waiting folder.  "All part of the service, Richie.  I see no point in complicating things, especially for a friend.  I'll get Bobbie to process this in the morning, and I'll tip you the wink when it all done and dusted.  Now, could I interest you in a spot of late lunch at Andy's?"

“Thanks, Max but I had a early lunch today, listen I appreciate everything including the advice about Wade’s venture.” Richie stood and shook Max’s hand. “If you ever have need of a solicitor, give me a call.”

"Okay, Richie; rain check then. Don't worry, when I need legal advice, you'll be the one I come to see. Let's get out of this place and into the sunshine."