The deadline is rushing towards me. As we headed down the home stretch the closing statement arrived – there was only a small amount of propane left in the tank – just enough to get to the closing. The seller let it get low to save money, not realizing that I would have to pay extra to buy whatever gas was in the tank at closing. I guess that by now he figured out he was dealing with a tightfisted cheapskate. I frantically researched how to get it refilled immediately after the closing. I REALLY didn’t want to run out of propane and have the pipes freeze right off the bat as soon as I bought the place. A city slicker might do that, but not me!
There are a few local propane suppliers. The huge national propane company quoted a price of $1.65 per gallon and was happy to take over the account. “Do you own the tank or lease it?” they asked. Sheesh, I don’t know and I feel stupid. I called Agent 007 who checked with the seller’s agent who checked with the seller. Yes, the tank is part of the deal. I will be the proud owner of a rusty old 500 gallon propane tank. I checked with a small local propane company that was also glad to take over the account. Only $1.28 per gallon. Nice. But they have to inspect the tank and system before they will take it over. And I have to be there. Not going to happen – Christmas is next week. What is plan C? Call Agent 007.
She recommends I get the seller to fill the tank , reimburse him, and deal with finding a supplier later. After some back and forth they give me the seller’s phone number – call Bill at 303-xxx-xxxx and figure it out between the two of us. We had never spoken up to this point. I called: “Hi Bill? This is Bill, the buyer.” He was genial and glad to fill it up once he knows I will reimburse him. It turns out he is not just an avid hunter, his day job is in sales for a propane company. “I would love to have your account” he says. Deal. His price for propane? $1.15 per gallon. BINGO! The tank was filled 3 days later. No inspection needed. To sweeten the deal I pay by credit card and will get airline miles for every gallon burned. Bonus!
The well production test comes back – 1.1 gallon per minute. Not great, but not horrible either. It is drinkable and we won’t run out if we aren’t wasteful. I won’t have to drill a new well. We are on our way. Christmas is coming, figuratively and literally.
Speaking of last-minute… when all the due diligence was complete I decided to ask for some accommodation on the price from the seller. I knew from my inspection trip that the place needed a lot of work, but when I tallied it all up I thought maybe I could get the seller to give me a break. The inspection report was written to emphasize the need for work. The new roof, all new fascia around the roof, patch up the log siding, fix the wonky DIY electrical work, replace the furnace and hot water heater, leaky windows ……. I called 007 and told her I wanted to ask for a price reduction and I heard her slowly inhale on the other end of the line. At least she didn’t whistle or blurt out “are you crazy? no way – you moron.” She did gently convince me to reduce the amount I was asking for, and kept her fingers crossed that I didn’t blow up the deal at the last minute. She sent my demand to the seller via the listing agent.
The Jersey Girl loves to watch me negotiate to buy a car, calling me a “Moroccan rug merchant.” I once made a car salesman choke on his coffee when he heard my low offer. But he presented it to his manager who accepted it. That was fun! If you don’t ask you certainly won’t get it. The downside is exactly what 007 was concerned about and I didn’t want to blow up the deal either. And nowadays since all negotiations are done through email and text messages we lose the all-important ability to see gesture and expression and read the hints of the other person’s unspoken thoughts. Everyone has a poker face when negotiating by email. The seller was kind enough to lower the price by $5000. But I didn’t get the joy of watching him complain about me. I didn’t even get to hear what Agent 007 must have blurted out after hanging up after I asked for the reduction.
Lets just get through Christmas and New Years and we can close the deal. January 8th is the day. Christmas is coming! Here in NJ, Colorado is always on my mind, especially when I look out my iced-over New Jersey window at the flagpole. I have to hope I don’t have something backwards.