A Gloom with a View - The Coconut Chronicles: Two Guys, One Caribbean Dream House - page 40

A half hour later we were sitting in Melinda's office in Esperanza, sweating profusely.
“There must be a way to convince them to put it back on the market,” I said to Armando.
He sipped his soda, then smiled broadly.
“Money usually works.”
“Let's not get carried away,” Michael chimed in.
I decided to steer the conversation back to dry land. “So how did you get involved?”
“With what?”
“The listing.”
“Technically I'm not involved. I know the old man's tenant. He told me a few weeks ago
they might consider putting it back on the market for the right price.”
Oh God.
“But if they didn't have any offers the first time around surely they're not going to ask
an even higher price now. If anything, the market's softened since then.”
He changed tack almost instantly.
“Or maybe they'll go down. I'm not sure.”
“Why don't you feel them out first? Give them a call; maybe they've changed their
mind.”
“Now?”
“Now or never.”
Armando pulled a phone book out of the desk drawer and looked up their number. He
whipped out his cell phone and dialed. After a couple of minutes of rapid-fire Spanish he
hung up with a smile.
“They said to come right over.”
☼ ☼ ☼
The owners couldn't have been more gracious. In fact, they invited us to dinner.
Personally, I'm not sure I would've been so nice.
For starters, Armando honked his horn in the driveway to herald our arrival. A bit rude,
I thought. Soon a doddery old man appeared at a side gate, smiling absently.
“ ¿Qué? ” he said.
“ Abra la puerta ,” Armando replied. (Open the door.)
The old fellow looked more than a little confused.
“I know you?”
“It's me, Armando. Carlos' hermano (brother). I just called your wife.”
“ ¿Sí? ”
“Listen, we're here to see the house. These nice men want to buy it.”
The owner continued to smile amiably, though he made no move to open the gate.
“So let us in.”
“We are selling our house?”