Back in 1998 -2004 My wife and I owned a Dairy farm in Missouri

Our milk house was a three on a side /side open gate type parlor, and I milked the cows on one side and my wife the other , That is when she wasn't line dancing to the country music we always had playing on the radio. We had developed quite a system to save energy, electrical and our own, as any fresh cows (that is a cow who had as recently as the last three days had given birth to a baby calf)that still had colostrium(milk that contains natural antibodys,for the baby calf) would be milked last after all the others. In doing it this way we could just pull the pipe that the milk ran through in to the milk tank from the milkers, out of the tank and into a bucket that we would use then as calves milk. Then when finished we would flush the lines, and wash them as usual at the end of milking.

I always kept the new mommas in a corner stall of the big barn which was about fifteen yards from the milkhouse,but on the opposite end from the holding area.

Dairy cows like to be milked. For one it takes the pressure away from a swollen udder and makes them feel good, and as an added bonus we would give them grain in the milk house as they were being milked so that always insured they would be lined up at the door ready and anxious to come in.

This particular night we had finished milking and all that was left was Katie. She was a cow that had just given birth to a beautiful registered Jersey heifer calf two days ago. The rule is you keep the new milk separate from your regular milk for the first three days so we had Katie and her calf in the main barn and I went out to bring her around and down the fenced alley into the holding pen and then into the milk house.

This particular night It was pitch black out side, and as I opened the gate Katie instead of going straight and down the alley like she had the last five milkings ,turned left, through an opening between the gate and the alleyway and headed out into an open field.

Keeping in mind the fact that I played college football, and also the fact that I was in excellent shape from carrying buckets of grain into the milk house every morning and night for the last couple years. I took off after Katie to head her off and had two steps at a full sprint when I ran flat out into a 20"around Peach tree. On that pitch black night I saw stars. Well Katie after seeing she had gone the wrong way just turned around by herself and headed down the alley into the holding pen, and through the back door into a stall and when I stumbled into the milk house she was munching ground corn and my wife was milking her and looked at me standing there with blood running down my face, and said "What in the world happened to you?"

With this bailout I'm wondering if maybe running out into the darkness, might not be the prudent thing to do, that it could be the market will see it's going the wrong way and turn around by itself. Even though it seems like the thing that needs to be done at the moment, I certainly wouldn't advise running without knowing for sure what's in front of you. It could be a Peach tree.

When working cattle one of my jobs was usually running the squeeze chute. You pen the cattle first then usually(If the pens were built right, )You worked the cattle counter clock wise around in to smaller and smaller pens until you are at an alley way leading to bright sunlight for the cow ---but really they have to get through the squeeze chute first. The reason they see all this light like at the end of a tunnel is that you have the squeeze chute gate open for them to look through. Once they have their horns through you have to slam the gate shut quick or they will bust right on through. You can't be day dreaming if you are running the chute. If a cow would bust through the chute it doesn't get worked --as to say we wouldn't be able to give it the preventative medicines and fly control we give them for their own good and health. So actually even though the cow doesn't understand --Getting caught up in the chute is a good thing for the cow.

I was watching the commercial expired list right before the forth of July and saw a ten thousand sq. ft. warehouse listed for 1.1mil had expired. A lady in my office had told me that she had a buyer for exactly that so I sent the owners of record a letter.

The July fourth weekend came around and I went up to Rainbow River and floated the river with my kids and just kicked back. Bright and early on Monday morning I drove over to the warehouse to walk around it and see where in the world it sat. That is to say where it sat in relation to the world outside .Just something I do on land Was Taught that years ago .

I saw a sign on the front door saying where the prior occupants had moved and low and behold it was the same name as the owning company, so I headed on over to their new location to see what I could find out.

I walked into the showroom counter sales area and stood patiently in line and when the person behind the counter asked me if he could help me, I responded that yes I was going to be easy ,Who do I need to talk to concerning your old warehouse, I am in Commercial Real Estate. He told me the asst manager would be the one who could help me, and walked me over to an office door. The asst manager was on the phone so I stood outside the door and waited for him to hang up. I introduced myself and told him why I was there and asked him for a contact name and phone number at the main office of the decision maker. He gladly obliged and commented that It was over priced and that the owner of the building they were in presently had made an offer considerably less than the listing price. I thanked him gave him my card and asked him to pass it along to anyone he cared about that might need some real Estate help, and headed home.

When I got home I called the number and got a recording, so I left my number and said I would be calling again before the day was through. I called again later in the afternoon and got a lady who was not sure if the property had been relisted but promised to find out and call me back.

The next morning I called and left a message .Later in the morning a gentleman from that company called me and said "I know we have spoken before and I thought you were sending a listing proposal to me" I not thinking said Oh no I don't believe we have spoken before but I would be glad to send you a listing proposal. He then told me that they were listing it with one of my competitors(MY Guess the company that apparently was day dreaming). I thanked him and then said By the way what price are you listing it at? He told me and it was 325thousand less than what it was listed at before I thanked him and hung up.Immediately redialing and getting the receptionist "What is your fax number?" I wrote up a listing agreement, at the price it was lowered to and faxed it off. I guess you could say I slammed shut the chute.-------I am showing it Monday morning at 10:00.---

Back in the early nineties the Real Estate market was just rolling along at an even keel not much happening, not much fluctuation. I went along with another Broker to a listing appointment, as It was closer to my home than the listing Broker, and It was a Horse farm.

I am not an authority on Horses by any means. In fact, rather than use horses the old traditional way to gather up cattle I used the low stress approach, of a feed sack, and as long as the cattle were familiar with me, it worked pretty good. To me even though I defiantly qualify as a real cowboy, as far as I was concerned you can leave the horses over in the next county on a horse farm, as that way I won't get kicked, bit, or run under a clothes line , but that was all in the past and a different story and I'm getting off the subject.

We pulled in the driveway and Bob, the Broker who was taking the listing started telling me the background story of the place. Seems as though a divorce was involved and the wife was selling the place to move into town.

We pulled up to the house and a nice lady came out to greet us .As introductions were made, we went into the house to look at it and find out a little more about what the motivation for the sale truly was. It seems that this place was her lifelong dream, and it was just tearing her apart to part with it. She went on to tell us about her background, in equine husbandry(that's taking care of horses to you city people)and I was impressed of her knowledge and experience. We then walked out to the stables where she explained how a new buyer could rent the stables and charge fee's for the feeding, grooming and exercising of over twenty horses. We walked behind the stables where she had a new exercise ring built, and she explained its operation. All and all I was so impressed, with the facilities, and the well thought out business plan she laid out for the buyer to enable them to cash flow the farm that When I had a moment to confer with Bob the listing broker in private ---I said why doesn't she implement her own plans for herself? He said simply, she can't picture herself in her own mind doing what she so plainly see's someone else doing.

Sometimes it is easier for us to look at someone else's problems. Someone else's financial,challenges,and someone elses,family disfunctions,because when looking at someone else we aren't emotionally blinded, to the obvious.

So I hope that I can somehow remember. when pondering an issue , when trying to make the right decision, When feeling somewhat overwhelmed.---Just take two steps back,and get underwelmed. Let go, and take a good look at the big picture. Opening my eyes to realize all the possibilities and resources I have at my disposal .

Then picture myself Implementing the corrective measures needed to keep moving ahead towards the completion of my goals.

This morning an individual in our office received a phone call from a debt recovery company, in reference to an unpaid credit card debt. The person on the other end of the phone I know was just doing their job, but after tying up the phone for approximately ten minutes they informed my colleague that If the debt was not paid they would file a judgment against them and they would lose their Real Estate license.Hmmmmm Cowboy Real estate

Mr. Douglas was A past president of the Pasco county Cattleman's assoc, and a member of the American Herford Assoc. He and his family owned the K_Bar ranch just south of Zephyrhills in Pasco county. I was out riding around with Mr. Douglas one day in his pickup truck, filling mineral feeders scattered throughout the ranch, and checking on the cows. As we came around a Cyprus head we saw a sight most people never see. A cow was in the middle of having a calf, and buzzards were trying to get the calf, as it was hanging out of the back of the cow apparently she was having trouble . She was spinning around trying to hook those buzzards trying to protect her calf. We blew the horn and roared up chasing the buzzards away for the time being. I grabbed a lasso out of the back of the truck as the exhausted cow lay down with her half born calf still hanging out the back. I got the rope around the calf's front feet and using the ball on the trailer hitch of the truck as a block and tackle ,we both pulled and delivered the calf .What should have been a happy ending ended up not to be as we discovered the buzzards had pecked the baby calf's tongue till it was gone and it would never be able to nurse.

Kind of reminded me of those bill collector tactics.

Some people make it a career ,others get to live the life for several years ,most only a few, and some never at all.I'm talking about playing the game of football.

I started playing when I was probably eight years old with my older first cousin ,Allen and anyone else we could get to play.

My cousin Allen was three years older than me and considering the fact that I really didn't start growing until my freshman year of high school,I was very small compared to everyone else.This mandated the necessity of becoming fast quick,elusive and mean, I excelled.

There was a game we played at our grade school that by today's standards would probably be deemed politically incorrect,as it pitted the mob against one.The name of the game was politicaly incorrect as it was called Black man.The game started out with one person (it )and in the center .Our playground had a fence on each side so the fences were base. The object was to run from one base to the base on the other side of the play ground without being tagged(or tackled if we were playing tackle).As each person was tagged(or tackled) they too would be the hunters till at the end you had a mob all trying to get one person. That person was usually me as this type of game honed my running back moves survival instinct ,and technique.

When I started my Freshman year in high school I finally got to play the game .Even though I could outrun all the running backs I was so fast explosive and mean that the coach put me on the line as Strong side guard on offence and weak side guard on defense.I quickly developed a preference to defense ;as on defense I got to go after the quarterback.One memorable play the strong side guard pulled to block for the halfback .As soon as the ball was snapped I shot across and of course the guy I usually hit wasn't there he was pulling to the right behind the line preparing to block for the halfback who was running on the other side of the quarterback with the intentions of pitching to the halfback who was running around the right end. The play book somehow forgot to take into consideration a little farm kid who grew up playing football with all the older kids and was fast and meaner than ...well you know.

I shot through the hole left by their guard, I grabbed the quarterback's shoulder pads with one hand and half jumped half catapulted myself over him and slammed that halfback into the ground for a loss.The whole time the coach was screaming ,(That's what you! are suppose to do)to everybody on the sidelines.I became particularly fond of playing kickoff and return special teams as I got more than my share of tackles.I played both offense and defense on the freshman team some games with only a couple plays on the sidelines before coach would put me back in, I hated the sidelines as I wanted to be in there.We were undefeated and I played the rest of the Jr varsity schedule and was one of only four freshman the coach let dress for the last varsity game of the season.Ironically the last varsity game The coach pulled my cousin who was a senior outof the game and put me in as his replacement.I forgot to mention the fact that as a freshman I weighted 120 pounds,and was only five foot two.Allen to this day says that it was a proud moment for him .

The same team I played with as a freshman, won the state football championship as seniors,but I was not with them.

My dad because of several reasons two which were farm commodity prices,and an opportunity to ease into retirement,took a job which took me away from my beloved river bottom farm,my cousins which I had grown up with and football,which for me was the most important thing on this earth.We moved over the summer to a small town in Ohio that did not offer football.I would find a ride to St Marys on Friday nights to watch them play football,On Sunday afternoons I found a that a bunch played tackle on the football field So yes I was there playing tackle football with no pads.The good thing was that no one could catch me.We usually played until someone was bleeding I made some lifelong friends out there beating each other up on Sunday afternoons out behind the High school.

I excelled at track and cross country,having some records that have stood even until my daughters were in high school ,however my main goal through all the track and all the running in cross county was to stay in shape for football college style.

I was accepted to Heidelberg college in Tiffin Ohio,and upon arriving went straight to the athletic department to introduce myself.. And they said who? From where? Never heard of you are you sure you are in the right building? I said yes I wanted to play football, and the coach told me that all the football players were there on scholarship, so you know they would be playing the chances of me playing were not good ,But they had no Idea the desire they were looking at.

\I Picked up all my equipment and practice uniforms and put everything in my assigned locker,then showed up for practice.I can imagine what all the other players thought .

At Heidelberg The way the varsity practices for its opponent each week is by running against the offence of he team we were playing that week from the films the scouts had brought back .The assistant coaches (One of which was coach Gruden--Jon Gruden of the Bucs Dad)would have us (the slaughter squad)Run the plays of the opposing team and the Varsity would try to stop us --Well all well and good except a halfback like me If I blew through the line for a huge gain the coach would say run that play again A) they know where I'm going coach B) That's why they called it the slaughter squad.

I ended up catching the eye of the varsity coach because of my hard hitting and ended up playing special teams and backup halfback behind a guy names Simone who was an all state halfback from Niles McKinley high school In Cleveland.

We were getting ready to play Wittenberg and so we were running thier plays . The coach called a play where I got the ball and ran between the guard and the tackle well I blasted through and ended up breaking through for a touchdown. The coach blew the whistle and started yelling at the Line backers then said run it again.When I hit the hole I had run through the play before I was met by zippy a 280 lb 6'4"defensive end and all the rest of the defense.Zippy hit me so hard that I ended up straight up and down with just my feet sticking out of the top of the pile and Zippy with a bloody nose where his face guard has cut his nose.Head coach Malmusar yelled Shriver if you can run the next play I'm starting you next year, I ran the next play but by next year I was on my way to south East Asia and Viet Nam I had joined the Marine corps.

I guess for most people that would be the end of the story but for cicumstance it would be for me also.

Thirty years pass and My wife and I are milking sixty head of Jersey dairy cows on two hundred twenty acres in Missouri. We (After a successful Real Estate career in Florida) had sold our properties in Florida and basically moved to the Missouri Ozarks to raise cattle and retire.Our milk house had a large grain tank outside but was missing the flex auger that was originally there So I improvised with three large garbage cans in the pit that we scooped grain a scoop at a time for them when they were actually being milked.I carried grain in to fill The garbage cans every morning and evening in two five gallon buckets in the milk house ,down five steps into the parlor pit empty the buckets then back for more until the garbage cans were all full.This was my daily workout so needless to say I was in good shape.One of my neighbors came over as I was preparing to milk one afternoon and watched me as I carried those buckets trip after trip ,carrying those heavy buckets down the steps over and over, I just looked at him as he was shaking his head and I said to him--- I'm not Amish, I'm just poor.---

We were at the local high school football homecoming game when a friend of my wifes nephew named Garrett Paulette looked over at me and said hey are you going to play in the alumni game tomorrow?I said why I didn't Graduate from here ,and he said that they were short on players and asked me to come play he said his uncle was playing and he was almost as old as I was so I said sure.Turns out his uncle was playing but his uncle was in his thirtys and I was fifty.

I was there the next morning at the high school locker room, signed the waver,paid my twenty dollars for insurance,and was issues my equipment full pads ,helmet, been a long time lets see where do all these pads go?

I played, and I hit hard ,I lined up across from Garrots uncle and he lasted about two plays then moved to the other side of the line .I found out that most of the guys that played had graduated only a couple years ago, and they really hit hard. I was able to get rid of a lot of pent up aggression and frustration that day ,I had such a great time I actually played two more years until the last year I had a couple ribs get broken as I got clipped,and that was the end of my football career.Well maybe,---who knows ,Maybe Jon Gruden will read this and want to use me for one play. Yeah that's it I'm only fifty nine I bet I can still run one more play.

In the movie Lonesome Dove A scene involving Cap'n Call the trail boss and retired Texas Ranger played by Tommy Lee Jones, His Son Newt, Played by Rickey Schroeder, and a US Calvary unit, captured my imagination the first time I saw it and continued to make an impression, there after.

In the scene the army officer confronts one of the cowboys at the livery stable in town, and wants to requisition his horse. The cowboy tells the army officer the horse isn't for sale and the officer, wanting to show his authority, infers that to refuse the army that particular horse would be treason, and proceeded to try to take the horse by force. When the cowboy is knocked down "Newt" grabs the reins and reintegrates that the horse is not for sale. The Army scout at that time begins flogging Newt with his crop as the "Cap'n" is walking out of the store down the street. The Cap'n drops the sacks of corn meal he was carrying as he see's his Son being flogged by the Army scout, jumps on his horse and at full gallop down the street and crashes into the Army scouts horse throwing the scout to the ground. What followed was one of the most intense and brutal expeditions of pure rage I had ever seen as the Cap'n first beat the scout with a branding iron then ran him head first into an Anvil. He then picked up a pair if tongs with deadly intent only to be roped by his friend Gus and after some rather fast talking and a lot of yelling to bring the Cap'n back to earth so to speak, the capt'n settled down checked Newt and everyone on his crew to make sure they were all right ,Mounted his horse and then calmly said to the startled onlookers" I hate rude behavior in a man, I won't tolerate it".

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So I was a Marine .Well shouldn't say was you know once a Marine always a Marine anyway,when I came home from "ITR"(Infantry Training Regiment) for my leave right before going over To Viet Nam. My sister picked me up from the airport with a stranger in tow ,whom she introduced as her Fiancé. She proudly and innocently added that Rich was also in the service. If you know anything about Marines you know that they scorn all the other branches of the service and especially loath the lax, undisciplined, anybody can be one Air Force.

So I took one look at her brand new fiancé's and said whats he in the Air Force ? She very apologetically said Yeeeeees. So we drive home and as soon as we walk in the house this new guy calls my Dad Dad. My blood boiled.

Keep in mind that I grew up on a farm where I was the only son. I had worked side by side with my Dad ever since I was six years old. I had weeded beans, in the hot August sun in the gumbo river bottoms, I had plowed and disced the fields from early morning till after dark, I had paid the price, over and over, for years, Where was this guy coming from where He thought that he had any right to call MY DAD Dad.

Years after that, I relayed the story to my daughters and apparently that story made an impression because at my oldest daughter Tracy's wedding after my new Son In Law had kissed the bride and I offered my hand to shake he said well Dad and my daughter said -real hush hush, -Oh No you don't want to call him that So he looked at me and said "well what do you want me to call you?" I looked him straight in the eyes and said You can call me cap'n.

The story doesn't stop there, Fourteen years later, I am at my daughter and Son In Laws house and my middle daughter brings her new boy friend over to meet the family. In the course of the evening, while playing darts Kristy's boyfriend calls me Cap'n.I guess when my Son in-law picked him up and threw him on top of the bicycles on the other side of the garage He found out the hard way that he hadn't earned the right. Hmmm I guess my Son in law felt the same way I did all those years ago, and I understood.Of course that guy that happened to make that innocent mistake---well he never came around anymore go figure.

As Vice Pres, acquisition for Flag development My first assignment was to find developable Florida real Estate to invest approximately thirty million dollars. Of course that was the fun part of my job.

One of my responsibilities with Flag development ,after we had all The land bought, was interim use. Coming from an agricultural background ,that was a pleasant job for the most part, however there were snags from time to time.

We had 560 acres in West Palm Beach, which I would travel down and pretty much just make sure no one dumped trash on it.

The two thousand acre Orlando site I had a hunt club ,and a cattle lease going on it making sure we received an ag exemption so holding cost were kept as low as possible.

The Lakeland property I had the previous owner lease back for cattle, did some sod harvesting and also some timber.

The headache as it turned out was the Brown Ranch ,Halfway between Zephyrhills and I-75,as it had the only house on all the land we bought.

I had a cattle lease worked out on the land and the previous owner, had one of his employee's in the house, and then the guy moved out. I was informed by our insurance company that sitting empty the house liability insurance would triple so----I ran some adds.

I had a call from a guy saying he was interested in renting the house and made arrangements to meet him. When he pulled in I could see he brought the whole family. It was he ,his wife and three small children, they were driving an older Cadillac Eldorado,the car was clean inside and out that can tell you sometimes how they take care of there house. They liked the house and we came to an agreement on rent and they were to move in the next day. Problem solved or so I thought. A few weeks went by and we received the Electric bill and it seems they had never had it switched over to their names ,so My wife drove over to the house to give them the bill and to tell them to get it switched over pronto. When she pulled in she could see that no-one was home .She went to the back door and saw that someone had covered the glass with black plastic on the inside. She had a key, so she unlocked the door to investigate and was met with a strong Odor. Stepping in the house she saw no furniture and the upstairs was completely blocked off with black plastic around the stair well. She pulled the plastic aside and was almost blinded with bright light coming from the upstairs and as she made her way to the top of the stairs she was greeted by the sight of pot after pot of pot with drip hoses going into each one, and huge stadium lights acting as the artificial sun on this indoor growing field. She made her way quickly downstairs, now fearful they might come back and find her there. She went back out side to her car and called the Sheriff on her cell phone.

When the Sheriff got there they removed over 50 plants. No arrests were ever made as the real nice guy with the nice family I rented the house to, said he sublet it to someone else and he of course was no-where to be found.

This all happened in the late 80's so they were pioneers, I know that it is a lot more prevalent now. So if you have rentals might want to watch for tell tale clues, high electric bills, no-one ever home, lack of furniture, because over and above the legality issue, a grow house is high heat and super high humidity and will wreck your property.

One Sunday I went for a walk back into my cattle pasture behind the house ,just watching the cows as they munched on grass, and just slowly making their way around . The baby calves were either playing ,(They like to play tag,) or just lying in the sun taking a snooze, always close to their momma. I had a pond about a quarter of a mile back from the house so I ended up there. I sat down on the ground just watching the water bugs dart around, pretty soon I just laid back in the soft grass and fell asleep.

I awoke to a hot rough tongue licking my face --As I jumped up startled the baby calf took off at a run, headed for its momma. I laughed and wished I hadn't scared the baby because what it had done was so sweet. Coming up to me so inquisitive and innocent.

Makes me wish sometimes in my own relationships I could just open one eye and relish the moment.

Back when I was growing up we lived about a mile and a half from my first cousin Allen so I really didn't have anyone my age to play with until my dad hired a new Hired man named Mr. Bradbury .Mr. Bradbury had four sons and one daughter, and they lived in the old house that my dad grew up in. All the kids were older than me but Earl, and he was about three years younger than me and a late life baby if you know what I mean? Since I didn't want to hang out with my sisters all the time sometimes I would go over to Brads house and ask Earls mom Bessie if Earl could come along so I had somebody to do stuff with.

One day I went over and got Earl and we walked down the gravel road toward the bluff there was a hedge tree down in front of Schnelles that always had a bunch of hedge apples laying on the ground that You could hit with a stick like a baseball. We did that for awhile than I said "Hey I know where there is a mulberry tree and we can go eat Mulberries, Ole Earl always liked any Idea that I would come up with, so we headed up the road a little further and came to the Mulberry tree, climbed it and sat up there in the tree munching on Mulberries.That got old pretty quick so I said hey lets go cut through the woods and go down by the big pond and check the Apple tree out . Of course Earl was all in favor of getting out of the tree so we headed through the woods. We went on through the woods playing like we were shooting at each other, and crossed the hay field to the barn. Once to the barn, It was a really cool place to play even though I do believe my Dad had told me not to play in the barn ---In we went. We were jumping from the manger thru an open window when Earl hit his head on the top of the window opening. He was bleeding pretty bad (as head wounds do) so I remembered my first aid class in

4-H taught us to clean the wound. Off to the cow tank we went. I chased all the fly's away (the sorghum lick was right next to the concrete cow tank) and so the water had kind of a sweet sour smell. We got his head all cleaned off with cow tank water and I said lets go get us some apples. As always Ray liked my ideas so we headed down past the hog house and down past the Chicken house to the little orchard down by the big pond. It seems the apples would never get red ripe before the birds would get to them, so we picked a bunch of green ones --so sour and good we ate a bunch.

It was about time for me to go home so we walked up to Rays house and I dropped him off at his yard and headed on home myself.

Later that night Bessie(Earls Mom) sent word over to my Mom asking what in the world we two boys did today, Earl is sick as a dog.

I was just fine must be a bug going round.

I was watching the commercial expired list right before the forth of July and saw a ten thousand sq. ft. warehouse listed for 1.1mil had expired. A lady in my office had told me that she had a buyer for exactly that so I sent the owners of record a letter.

The fourth weekend came around and I went up to Rainbow River and floated the river with my kids and just kicked back. Bright and early on Monday morning I drove over to the warehouse to walk around it and see where in the world it sat. That is to say where it sat in relation to the world outside .Just something I do on land Was Taught that years ago .

I saw a sign on the front door saying where the prior occupants had moved and low and behold it was the same name as the owning company, so I headed on over to their new location to see what I could find out.

I walked into the showroom counter sales area and stood patiently in line and when the person behind the counter asked me if he could help me, I responded that yes I was going to be easy ,Who do I need to talk to concerning your old warehouse, I am in Commercial Real Estate. He told me the asst manager would be the one who could help me, and walked me over to an office door. The asst manager was on the phone so I stood outside the door and waited for him to hang up. I introduced myself and told him why I was there and asked him for a contact name and phone number at the main office of the decision maker. He gladly obliged and commented that It was over priced and that the owner of the building they were in presently had made an offer considerably less than the listing price. I thanked him gave him my card and asked him to pass it along to anyone he cared about that might need some real Estate help, and headed home.

WhenI got home I called the number and got a recording, so I left my number and said I would be calling again before the day was through. I called again later in the afternoon and got a lady who was not sure if the property had been relisted but promised to find out and call me back.

The next morning I called and left a message .Later in the morning a gentleman from that company called me and said "I know we have spoken before and I thought you were sending a listing proposal to me" I not thinking said Oh no I don't believe we have spoken before but I would be glad to send you a listing proposal. He then told me that they were listing it with one of my competitors(MY Guess the company that had it before). I thanked him and then said By the way what price are you listing it at? He told me and it was 325thousand less than what it was listed at before I thanked him and hung up.Immediately redialing and getting the receptionist "What is your fax number?" I wrote up a listing agreement, at the price it was lowered to and faxed it off.Ill tell you tomorrow if I get a signed listing back.But I do have a new buyer, by listening and asking questions.