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“Ah, sure.” She mustered a smile and pocketed his card. If Ava had her way, she wouldn’t be selling the property to him. “Let me walk you out.”
*****
“Urgh, we should think about it as a business, shouldn’t we. I didn’t gel with him but that shouldn’t matter. He’s offering list price. It’s a shorter settlement timeframe and he has his finance sorted. It’s pretty much money in the bank for us,” Ava mused, picking at her chicken salad.
Cole sipped his wine. Ava was already onto her second glass. It was crisp and delicious and from her favourite part of New Zealand’s south island. “But?” he asked, already knowing where her concerns laid.
“Mr Moss, Mrs Elba, and Dr Chen all said the same thing to us—the holiday rentals weren’t good for the area.” She wasn’t responsible and couldn’t control what the eventual owner did with the property once they sold. But one of the things they’d written into their vision was that with every property they flipped, they would contribute positively to the community. They wanted to renovate houses and apartments into homes. They were about helping people in this rental and affordability crisis to get a foot into the market, not making it worse. Wasn’t that exactly what they’d be doing if they sold the property, knowing it was going to lay vacant for much of the year? And on their third house? If they caved now, would their mission hold any value? What about going forward? It sounded awfully hypocritical if they only stuck with their guns when it suited them.
“How much are we in the hole for?” Bryce asked.
“Over a mil. But we won’t have a problem covering that from the sale. We haven’t over capitalized,” Cole explained.
“I know that. I’m just trying to figure out how to calculate what it costs us per day to hold the property if we turn down the sale and have to wait a month or two for another offer.”
Ava waved her hand and went to her laptop sitting on the desk, crammed in the corner of their living room. She had a spreadsheet to answer precisely those kinds of questions. “That’s easy.” She typed a few figures in and flipped the report page around to show them. “This is how much it costs us per day to hold onto the property. Based on a conservative estimate of the sale price—what Mr Denyer is offering—we’ll turn this much profit.” She pointed to the cell with the second lowest figure in it. “If we sell to the other people, we’ll actually get less in hand even though it’s a higher offer—the settlement date is a few weeks longer, so the extra mortgage costs offset the higher price.” She motioned to the amounts at the higher end. “If we can achieve something more like this, we’ll be better off, but the longer we wait, the lower those figures get. We have sixty days to sign a contract and another sixty days to settle before we start losing money at the lower end of the price range.”
“So we have time,” Bryce mused.
“Yes, but the market is turning. It’s taking longer to sell property, even with how cheap it is for the area,” Ava countered.
“This price range is cheap?” Bryce shook his head. “I’ll never get used to Sydney prices. Over a million bucks for a small two-bedroom house on a tiny allotment is insane. No wonder people can’t afford to buy.”
Ava nodded. It really was ridiculous, but that was the property market they were dealing with.
Cole stretched out, propping his feet up on the free chair at the table. “How legit is this other offer the agent is promising?”
“No idea. If the buyers have got their finance in order, we’re sweet, but we won’t really know that until we get the okay from them.”
“So we have time and a potential other buyer. There’s always the possibility we’ll get more if we wait, but as long as it’s not an offer at the lower end after the full one-twenty days, we’ll make money. I don’t see what the issue is,” Bryce countered with a shrug. “The agent said these people are looking to move into the property. I say we take the risk and sell to them.”
“Cole?” Ava asked.
“I’m with both of you on this. Let’s do the open home tomorrow, and if we don’t get anything else, we’ll sell to that couple.” He twirled the wine glass, the stem delicate between his thick fingers, and Ava nodded. It was the right decision to make, but there was still something bothering her.
“Why are you worried?” Bryce asked, topping up his glass of water. “Mr Denyer will understand if he doesn’t get it. He’s a businessperson.”
Ava shook her head and lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. “I don’t know. I feel like we should give him priority because he’s associated with the team, but at the same time I don’t think it’s the right decision for us to do that. I don’t even know what I’m trying to say, but I’ve got this niggling feeling, you know? Maybe he just threw me.”
“I didn’t like him,” Cole agreed. “Who doesn’t shake hands with people? Although, I suppose it’s not surprising given the last few years.”
“He shook my hand,” Bryce added, his brow furrowing while he pursed his plump lips. “I think. Maybe.”
Cole finished off his wine and Ava watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed while he swallowed. How was that so sexy?
“Another?” He held up his glass and took Ava’s when she nodded.
She sighed happily as Cole leaned down and kissed her hair and squeezed her shoulder. “Okay, I’ll send the agent the instructions to go ahead with the open house. We’ll see what comes of it.”
“There is something else I wanted to talk to you about,” Cole added. “I’m thinking we should incorporate a charitable arm into the business.” Ava’s interest was immediately piqued. Cole wouldn’t have suggested it unless he’d been thinking about this for a while, and he usually had a plan of attack before ever mentioning an idea.
“I love it,” she encouraged. “Sell me on how to make it happen. What are you thinking?”
“Well, we join most of the Facebook groups for the suburbs we’re renovating in to get a feel for the community. I’ve seen posts recently from support workers and teachers in the area, and a couple of single parents who were struggling, asking for help. The basics—nappies, food, schoolbooks, that sort of thing. People are doing it tough.”
Bryce nodded and reached for his hand as Cole fiddled with his glass. He was nervous, and she loved that Bryce picked up on it and tried to soothe him. Ava scooted her chair around and rested her head on his shoulder, cuddling into his arm and tried to do the same.
“We’re so lucky, and Bryce, I know it’s because of you and all your hard work not luck, but we’re sitting here talking about how much we can make on the sale of our third house. I know the market is changing and you’re worried, Ava.” He leaned into her, bending down to kiss her hair.
