An Interesting Opportunity

My mom and dad have been talking to me since we moved up here about college. My college fund is set. I have enough to go to college and not have to work unless I want to. But they have been talking to me lately about buying some properties inside and/or outside of the town where I go to college and have me manage them. The business will be in my mom's name cause of some financial reasons but I will own half of it. What we want to do is to get into the black on the books as soon as possible (I won't need a real salary because I already have my college fund set and it is more than I ill need so I will probably just put my money back into the company) and then start putting our profits back into other properties. But this will be a way for me to make real a real step toward being independent and get real experience running a business. I didn't know that my parents made the same offer to both my sister and brother. Both didn't want to do it for different reasons. My sister didn't want to do it because she thought it would be more than she could handle. I know she could have done it but it would probably have been really physically hard for her to do some of the things that would have to be done. My brother didn't want to do it because he is just lazy. He had his college fund and had enough money to do the things he wanted to do without having to do this. But I like it. And I said yes right off the bat.
The way they told me it would be is that they would buy the properties with their money, from government grants, and the rest from loans (we think that it will be a small loan maybe on the property that I own or on the business it's self). At first he wanted to set up an office space in his office building to handle the financial part of it but we talked about it for a few days and decided to have that done where ever we have our office. Then we thought about it for a few more days and decided that it would be too big of an expense to have that many people on full time employment for such a small venture. We do plan to expand as we can but to start off, it was just too many people. After we get more properties we will hire somebody to do that locally and try to be completely independent of his company. But in the mean time, he will have someone in his office handle the financial part of it (take care of the taxes, pay bills, do payroll, etc, and just have a Realtor/office manager and Secretary at the office. My part of it will be to collect the rent from overdue renters (both of my parents said that I will always have at least one other guy with me when I do that), in bad cases I would be the one to tell renters that they have to move out and start the eviction process, oversee the properties, do the things that I can do as far as repairs, and to have reliable bonded people to call in to do the repairs that I can't do myself.
One of the properties will be mine. We will have a small office in the town I'm living in. My dad will help me set up my part of it so things will be set up right and he will hire the realtor/office manager to set it up. He will use his lawyers to handle the legal part of it and they will be our lawyers also. We will be linked to his office thru the Internet and phones. I will have to get and use a cell phone (I can't wait for that), have a reliable car (a new car) and have a work truck or van, have and use credit cards, set up accounts in the town at the places that I will have to do alot of business (he will help me with that) and have a few guys (probably other college students) that will be able to work part time for us (which means that I will have to have a good office set up in my house cause I don't want to be part of the main office). He told me that I will have to find those people to work with me because I need to find people that I can work with and rely on to do what I need done.
We talked about how much we are willing to put into this and what kind of properties we want to get (he had already done the research for all of this and had it all in a folder). Like I said, they have been wanting to do this for years. We all agreed that one of the properties should be a storage place (like a rental storage place) because we will need a place to store things that are not needed in the apartments and houses (we will use one of the units to store stuff and rent the rest), plus people are always leaving furniture and things like that when they move out. If we can find a small type building like a small store, we may just use it for storage. And if we need to have a furnished apartment, it would be nice to have the things on hand. My mom said that we will be going to alot of yard sales that spring and summer to find living room sets, dining room sets, and bedroom sets to keep from spending a fortune on new stuff. I will have to have a very good set of tools (everything from screwdrivers to saws to a portable air compressor, to screw guns/nail guns, to lawnmowers and weed eaters, to carpet cleaners, ....). Besides the little things like unclogging sinks and toilets, fixing broken water pipes, changing locks, and stuff like that; I will be responsible for mowing the properties, minor landscaping, minor carpentry repairs, cleaning vacant units, painting the inside after people move out, fixing holes in the walls and stuff like that, replacing appliances, inspecting rented units monthly at least, and being the person that tells renters that they are doing something wrong. I will also be the person that is on call when renters call about problems but they will also be able to call or go to the office.
I guess that it's a good thing that I have always been in the middle of everything my dad has done around the house. I've got the experience to do this I think. The only thing I don't have that much experience with is electrical. But that is what electricians are for. I know that I will have to have 2 reliable bonded electricians, plumbers, and carpenters. The reason for 2 of each is that in an emergency, it's a better chance of getting the work done if you have a backup. My dad will help me set up contracts with them and with other businesses like pest control, hardware stores, office supplies, locksmiths, advertising in realtor guides and newspapers, insurance, a printing company for company stationary: letter heads with the company logo and name, business cards, etc, heating and air contractors, small engine repair, etc. It's alot of stuff that I would never be able to do without help: alot of help.
We decided that the house that I will live in will have an out building/shop on the property even if we have to build it, and use it store my all of the tools and stuff (we decided it needed to be very accessible to me so the closer the better). He said that he would have one of the guys that works for him at his main office come down and help me set it up with the things that I will need, and set up the shop and work vehicle (this guy is awesome and knows what he is doing). We decided that we would try for 10 to 15 units (some houses, some duplexes, and some apartments with multiple units).
We talked about this for days. They both really pressed me hard to make sure that I wanted to do this. They kept telling me that if I didn't want to or think that I wouldn't be able to do it or handle it, that it was ok for me to tell them no. But I'm all for it. It sounds great. I'm at least 2 years away from this but now is the time to make the decision. But if at some point before we buy the properties that any of us decide not to do it, we can just stop. And we are not going to buy the properties till the spring/summer before I start college. So things can change before then. But as of now, it is on. I've been really excited about this since we started talking about it. It just seems too good to be true and such a great way to start my adult life.
I know it will make things that a little harder as far as class work and social life, but man it's great that my parents are willing to invest in me and trust me will that responsibility. I told them that if we do this, I don't want anybody (people outside of the our little company) to know that I am the boss. I don't want the people living in our apartments/houses to know that I'm their landlord or anything like that. The only person there that will know that is the people in the office. I want everybody else to think I just work there.
Man I'm excited. This is so great. I know that I will have to deal with people but it really feels good that my parents see me as a person who can do this. But it's also scary cause it is alot of responsibility. I know that I can't mess up. I can't let them down. It's not just letting them down either but it will effect them financially if I mess this up. It could really hurt my dad's standing in his other businesses. It's not a small thing they are doing. But I'm still excited and ready to do it NOW. If I could get done with my treatments, take my GED, SAT/ACT, and then try to get into the school that I want to go to (Ole Miss); we would start this spring. But I have to get done with my treatments and get into full remission before we can start any of this.
Right after this came up, I talked to William. I didn't know that he had turned this down then. He acted like I had slapped him in the face. It was weird. And I don't understand it. He was offered it and turned it down.

After Kieran died I guess Uncle James and dad talked about this (or it could have been before he died). They decided to go ahead with it. I really don't own part of it like Kieran would have. But for the most part, I am doing what he would have done with Cody helping me. They set it up just like he wrote about. And it's been a very interesting term for me. Some of it has been very unpleasant but for the most part, it's been just a job. I didn't have the college fund Kieran had but I do have enough to take care of things. I have a rent free house. I have a new car. I have credit cards: company and personal. I am the boss here but dad and Uncle James are the real bosses but they haven't been that involved in how things are run. Both me and Cody get paid well. And in a way, we are part owners through my dad. I know that Kieran would have probably had everything running like a Swiss clock but we have been doing alright. We haven't had any major problems, and by next summer, we will be looking for some more properties. I ran an ad in the local paper and posted on the board in the quad about part time work. Me and Cody interviewed everybody that answered the wanted ads and hired 5 guys that have been great. 2 of them actually live in one of the apartments and another lives in the house down the street from where I live. So it's great having them close at hand and all of them have been great workers. But I keep thinking that if he had lived, I think Kieran would have doubled the size of the units in 2 years. He just had a way of willing things to happen. Man I miss him. It's hard to not think of him because everything I do is what he was supposed to be doing right now. Maybe I would have been involved but I know that he would have been running this thing like a business man who had been doing it for 25 years.
By the way, I don't think he was finished with this entry but that was all he had written down. I'm still working through his journals but I'm still not close to the end. And I'm still finding online accounts where he has stuck his writing. I will be reading along and find a new web site with his id and password in the margins. How he kept up with them, I will never know?