“The lawyer who was in charge of the receivership. I sold him and his wife their home. He called me to help him sell it,” Ashley explained.
“Oh,” David said because he didn’t see how that could help him with his project.
He decided to look at it differently.
“My project is to use statistics to help identify potential buyers and sellers. It doesn’t have to be all-encompassing. I just need a good example of both and then to prove that it works,” David explained.
“We have a software app that was originally intended for banks to do what are called ‘desktop appraisals,’” his mom said. “What it does is gather home sales information from counties around the country. Based on square footage, age of the home, acreage, neighborhood, beds, baths, and the like, the app can calculate a close approximation of what a home is worth.
“The banks use this to get an idea of whether the home is close to the value of the loan. They do that before they get too far into the loan process. Of course, they will do a full appraisal before closing, but this gives them a head start. The company figured out that realtors and appraisers would also be interested in this,” his mom explained.
“With that software, how would you find buyers?” David asked.
Both his mom and Ashley looked at each other.
“I don’t really know,” Ashley confessed.
“Who would be the ideal buyer?” he asked.
“An investor,” his mom said without hesitation.
“Why’s that?” David asked.
“Because they buy multiple properties, not just one every ten or more years,” Ashley explained.
“How would you find an investor by using the software?” he asked.
“If there was some way to search for buyers who have bought multiple properties, that might work. The problem is, it only lets you search on a specific name or address. I don’t see how you could get the software to figure that out,” Ashley said.
“But the data is there,” David prodded.
“It has to be; we just don’t know how to use the software to tell us something like that,” his mom said.
“Assume I could figure out who potential investors are. What kind of properties are they interested in?” he asked.
“For each one, it can be different. But in general, they’re looking for homes that are bargains. If you watch those flipping shows, they often do their buying at county auctions. The problem for us is that if a home is bought at auction, we don’t make any money,” his mom explained.
“What if you could sell it before it went to auction? Would investors be interested in that?” David asked.
“If they didn’t have to go through the process and could cherry-pick properties, I could sell those all day long,” Ashley said, getting excited.
“What causes the county to seize them and put them up for sale?” he asked.
“People don’t pay their property taxes,” Ashley said.
“Is that information available early on, soon enough to give you time to sell the property before the county grabs it?” David asked.
“Oh, yeah. It can take a few years of nonpayment before a county will move to seize a property,” Ashley said.
“If I could figure out how to get this information, would it help you sell real estate?” David asked.
“Yes. Yes, it would,” Ashley said.
Now all he had to do was figure out how to get the data and do the needed searches.
Pam had waited for David. When they’d started home, she let him know that she wanted to go back to his dorm. David knew if they went back to her place, he would end up spending time with Tracy, too. It was pretty clear to him that Pam had figured that out as well. She was being greedy.
After their initial bout of fun, Pam wanted to talk.
“Feel better?” David asked.
Pam made a sound that David usually associated with her eating his grandma’s German chocolate cake with the coconut frosting and a side of homemade vanilla ice cream.
“I take that as a ‘yes.’”
She gave him an unreadable look to tease him.
“We should go again. I’m determined to make you have fun tonight, so just relax and let it happen.” David said with a big grin.
“Ah, that’s what all rapists say to their intended victims.”
David’s mouth dropped. Hell had just frozen over. Sweet, innocent Pam Bell was a little smarty-pants.
“When did you become a comedian?” he asked.
“When you wouldn’t let Cassidy give me the login for the grocery store,” she pouted.
“I take it Coby needs stuff,” David fired back.
“Or I might,” Pam said.
He blinked to wrap his head around that. She was showing more confidence than he thought possible.
“I’ll text it to you,” he conceded.
“David?”
“Yes?”
“Do you still love me the best?”
“Yes.”
“I have a confession to make.”
“Okay.”
“I didn’t want to go back to my place because Tracy and Cassidy teased me about the grocery password.”
“I’m sorry.”
“David?”
“Yes?”
“I think I might have met someone I want to go out with.”
“That’s good.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he said and kissed her on the top of her head. “You ready for round two?”
“Yes, please.”
’She will be the death of me,’ David concluded, and that worried him.
Chapter 66
David
David’s week hadn’t gone totally as expected. He’d been forced to remind himself that change doesn’t happen overnight, and that he wasn’t back home where he’d built his credibility. It didn’t help that everyone could tell that Coach Clayton had just paid lip service to his grand announcement that he wanted to win national championships. David would have bet that if asked, Coach Clayton would say that was his goal, too, but it would be done his way without input from David or anyone else. It was his program, after all.
The younger guys were more open to David’s message because they hadn’t been in the system long enough to become jaded, pissed-off, or looking to transfer out. The starters mostly didn’t want to rock the boat. That left the more cynical, the more aggressive, and the backups.
After spring ball was completed, six players announced their plans to leave because it was apparent that they would get little or no playing time. One of them was Travis Barry, Matt Long’s primary backup at quarterback.
When he was asked about Travis and the others opting to transfer, Coach Clayton had played it off. A day later, one of the national college-football websites added Coach Clayton to their list of coaches on the hot seat to be replaced. David was sure Coach Clayton wasn’t happy to be the subject of that kind of rumor.
Bo Harrington, David’s former personal quarterback coach who’d become the quarterback coach at Alabama and was now the head coach at Western Michigan, had scholarships available. A new model of recruiting was emerging for schools that weren’t necessarily in the top tier. They had started to hold some of their scholarships in reserve to use to fill gaps on their rosters when top players left schools like USC.
Only a handful of teams could consistently recruit top-level freshmen, plug them into their system, and have a never-ending supply of starters. While USC was one of those schools, they were bleeding off talent to transfers, thanks to Coach Clayton’s system. Schools in the bottom half of the Big Ten and similar conferences would offer the ones exiting a chance at playing time.
While Western Michigan would never be able to go toe-to-toe with the big boys for a top high school recruit, they were an attractive destination for transfers. By the time a player was ready to transfer, the glamor of going to a big-name college had worn off. The players leaving had had their eyes opened to the business of big-time college football. They were looking for a destination that would give them the best chance of getting the exposure needed to get to the NFL.