Gone and then back in 18 minutes

So yesterday I saw the electronic lien was cleared from the title of the SSR so I had a paper copy printed.  I now figured I was officially ready to sell the truck so I created my Craigslist ad and posted it.  I was sort of surprised I got a call within 30 minutes.  That call was from a guy that lives in Panama City, some 5 hours away.  He seemed interested and said he might actually make the drive down this weekend to see the truck.

I got a second call from a Wisconsin number.  He is from there but recently moved to Estero.  Frank said he had been looking at SSR’s for a short while as a perfect cruising vehicle for his retirement lifestyle.  He said he could come by last night to look at the SSR, I told him that would be fine.

Cindy offered to give the SSR a thorough bath during the day which was great since I had not had a chance to do it myself yet.  Frank pulled up in his Tundra just as I was finishing up doing a few things outside.  He immediately struck me as a nice guy.

Very early on in the conversation he identified himself as a serious lifetime car hobbyist, the hard core type that restored vehicles from the 40’s and 50’s.  The guy knew way more about cars than I did, that was very clear to me very early.  During the test drive I knew if he made an offer on the truck it wasn’t going to be very close to my $25,500 asking price.  He talked about another SSR he looked at that only has a ridiculously low 9000 miles and untouched from factory original options.  I actually saw this truck on Craigslist myself when I was looking at comps.  Anyway the seller had that truck listed at 32-33k.  Frank told me he could get that truck for 24k.

He asked me what I needed to get out of my SSR dollar wise.  I didn’t have a clear answer for him.  I told him that since I am under no pressure to sell the truck, I just listed the truck as being for sale, and I have a guy from Panama City that seems very interested I wasn’t looking to give the truck away.  After the test drive we were discussing dollars further.  I told him I could agree to dropping the price to 24k.  Frank clearly already had his number in mind and it wasn’t close to mine.  He offered 21k and said it would be a simple all cash deal that could be completed the next day which of course was appealing.

I went inside for a couple minutes and talked to Cindy about it.  Frank’s offer was a lowball but the reality was it would still more than easily allow me to execute my plans for the new Tacoma.  She came back outside with me.  I was hoping Cindy’s friendly personality could possibly help me disarm him enough to accept a counter offer.  I came back with 22 and he wouldn’t budge, not even a little bit which of course was annoying.  He claimed with some of the work he would want to do on the truck he couldn’t justify going any higher, especially with the 9000 mile SSR as another option.  After exchanging some glances with Cindy I told him I would do the deal. The appeal of a simple cash deal and getting the transaction completed quickly was appealing enough to be worth it to me.

I did some paperwork regarding the sale.  Frank suggested that he could take the spare parts now so I wouldn’t have to try to jam them into the back of the SSR tomorrow.  We planned to do the transaction at my office on Friday morning.  He gave me $100 deposit in good faith and headed out.  Although I didn’t feel great about the negotiation or lack there of I was happy everything was falling into place quickly.  I felt good that the truck would be going to a true car enthusiast that would take great care of it.  That good feeling faded away about 7:48PM.

My phone rang and I saw it was Frank’s number.  He told me that he thinks he may have jumped the gun and he reconsidered.  He said with the work he wants to do on the truck the dollars will get out of hand.  I was shocked at first.  When he was at the house he seemed pretty sure of himself and his number.  Him taking the spare parts now seemed to further cement it was a done deal.  I expressed my surprise but wasn’t a dick about it.  I am not sure if his wife at home was the fulcrum behind his reversal.  The whole thing seemed extra weird when I realized I had a voicemail from Frank at 7:30, asking me to take the ad off Craigslist, not something a person that was having buyers remorse would normally do.

So whatever the reason behind his decision, we made plans to undo what we did.  He agreed to meet me at work today to give me back the parts.  He said I could keep the deposit if I wanted which of course I refused.  When I met up with him this morning he apologized for the trouble and indicated he could still be a potential buyer at an even lower number which I pretty much brushed off.  At this point I will see what comes my way the next couple weeks.  Like I said, there is absolutely no pressure on me to move in any particular direction so for now I will just chill.  In some ways I am glad to have an opportunity to potentially get more for the truck but also a bit sad to not have quickly turned the transaction around.

After I got the call from Frank I headed out to the coop to put the chickens to bed.  Stephie, the chicken that gets picked on the most by the others seems to really like Cindy and I.  When I went in the coop to count heads I didn’t see her at first.  I called her name and she immediately sat upright so I could see her.  She then started to move around the perch to get to the front where I was.  As she was maneuvering closer one of the other hens pecked at Stephie.  I put my arm up to scold the pecking hen and as I did Stephie instantly hopped on my forearm and used it as a perch.  She immediately lowered her body like she was making herself comfortable for the long haul.

It was so cute.  I let her there for a minute or two as I petted her.  She seemed as content as a chicken can seem.  It almost looked like I was a falconer with a big hawk on my arm.  I eventually coaxed her back down on her perch.  I have a feeling she will be using us as human perches more often. It was a nice moment to lessen the disappointment of the phone call.

This weekend I might start tackling adding a second row of castle stone to the pool landscape border to stop the incessant chicken vandalism.  It should be lots of fun.