I believe it was during the first couple of months in 2005 when I got a phone call from a real estate investor in northern Florida. He and his wife were coming to Key West to buy several condominiums, or so he said. This was several years ago so I a a bit fuzzy on the details of the phone calls (there were several), but I remember being weary of how smart this investor was. He was throwing around real estate terms but did not make much sense. I do remember asking him if he had a real estate license. He said "No" but added he was working on it. Anyone, including a smart German Shepard, can get a real estate license in Florida. I didn't understand what he needed to work on.
He wanted to meet on a Sunday afternoon. I was hosting an open house that Sunday but agreed to meet him shortly after 2:00 PM at my real estate office which was then on Duval Street in Key West.
My memory is clear on this part. I pulled into our driveway and saw a gray van with Florida out of area license plates. I think I saw her first: a frumpy middle aged woman with too-tight gray stretch pants. Then him - wearing a an ill-fitting athletic shirt over his pear shaped physique. I think he was wearing stretch pants too. The looked like they just fell off the turnip truck but I knew that wasn't the case as they had their own transportation - the gray van. He told me they spent the night parked in the lot behind our office. This was a sign that he was frugal. Or maybe that he did not have any money.
We did go look at a couple of properties. He repeated his story about being an investor. Then he told me he and the Mrs. had gone to the newly opened Seaside Residences and spoke with an on-site agent. He was thinking of buying one, or two, or maybe three of those units. (I just checked the Key West MLS records. Those units were listed in around $960,000 at that time depending on location and view. They were all new construction.) I inquired how he planned to pay for the unit or units. He said the agent said CountryWide Mortgage had a 95% mortgage program. CountryWide made a lot of those loans in Key West. CountryWide helped destroy the life savings of many Key Westers between 2005 to 2008 who actually bought units at Seaside and other condominium and town home developments.
I took my would-be buyers back to the parking lot behind our office and wished them well. I never heard from them after that. I don't know if he got one of those deals.
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