much attention, but I glanced in that direction just as they appeared to be wrapping up. The man with the iron jaw looked at me, flashed a big, friendly grin, and lifted his hand in a wave. If I’d been in New York I’d have ignored him, but in Charleston waves are returned, even waves to gigantic strangers with teeth too white to be real.
The giant walked off. Dana sat down, asked the waiter to bring her an unsweet iced tea, and proceeded to tell me a lot of what I already knew.
“It’s a lovely property, of course. So much potential. But if you’re hoping to attract a residential buyer, there’s a whole lot of work that would need to be done before you put the house on the market.”
“I was hoping for a quick sale.”
“Well, you’d need to find a buyer who would be willing to purchase it as is, with no inspections and no contingencies. Those buyers are out there but they’re generally investors, people who are looking to buy cheaply, fix it up as quickly as possible, and flip it to a new buyer to reap maximum profits. But the sheer size of your house limits the pool of potential buyers. More square footage means more time and money in the renovation.
“I don’t know if you noticed, but that man I was talking to?” Dana’s eyes shifted toward the spot where the man had intercepted her. “His name is Cabot James and he’s a real estate developer. He buys large properties and divides them up into smaller units that he can rent or sell for a profit, mostly duplexes. Cabot’s been looking to do a bigger project for some time now, but it’s hard to find lots big enough downtown and he’s had his eye on your aunt’s house ever since she passed away.
“I know that sounds kind of creepy,” she said, responding to the discomfort on my face, “but believe me, he wasn’t the only one. The competition for land and property downtown is fierce. If ownership of your aunt’s house had reverted to the state, he would have tried to pick it up at auction. Since that didn’t happen, he’d like to make you an offer, a cash deal, as-is, with no inspections.”
Considering the condition of the house, the figure she named wasn’t insulting or predatory. But it was far below what I’d need to buy a home anyplace near New York, including New Jersey. Still, I can’t say I wasn’t tempted by the thought of some ready cash; being jobless will do that to a person.
“What would he want to do with it?”
“Hard to say at this point,” Dana said. “He could do what he’s done with other properties, divide it up into apartments, but on a bigger scale. Six units? Maybe eight?”
“Eight? That’s crazy. Where would people park?”
“My guess is he’d pave over the garden.”
What? Cabot James wanted to rip up Calpurnia’s oleanders and palms and magnolias and crape myrtles? Tear out the brick planters and the pergola and replace them with asphalt? The garden was a mess, utterly overgrown and neglected, but the idea of paving it over seemed almost sacrilegious.
Dana paused just long enough to nibble a piece of cheese before going on. “But rather than apartments, I suspect he’d prefer to tear the place down, build about four or five brand-new condos, and sell them.”
I gasped. “Just bulldoze down a beautiful historic house? The city would never let him do that, would they?”
“Hard to say,” Dana replied. “But the house was built in the 1920s, which isn’t all that old by Charleston standards. He’d have to get a zoning exemption, but the city is under a lot of pressure to provide more affordable housing, and Cabot has a lot of connections.”
I looked toward Calvin to see what he thought of all this, but he was uncharacteristically quiet and deeply involved with the lobster sliders. Trey Holcomb was just sitting there with no expression on his face, listening but not talking, basically being Switzerland.
“Of course, fixing it up yourself is still an option,” Dana said cheerfully. “You wouldn’t get the kind of return you’d see if the house was located south of Broad, but Harleston Village is still a desirable area. A lot of young families prefer a mixed-use neighborhood and having their favorite shops and restaurants nearby. If your house was move-in ready, I’m sure it would sell quickly and for a good price.”
Dana must have mistaken my silence for