Have you ever seen the rain?

I never had the clearest of ideas how Rick S. ought to be involved in this initiative but being associated with someone of his reputation and intellectual horsepower seemed like a good idea. For his part, Rick S. seemed happy to meet every 10 days or so and be brought up to speed while he mulled his options. He was, after all a real estate developer and this was a real estate oriented endeavor. My long time partner, Mark - who had by now gotten on board this train was consistently wary of Rick S. as he wasn't sure enough of his motives to suit him. I suppose down deep, I was still resisting the notion of going out on our own without the financial backing of some institution or at least and institutionally sized individual. I had enough cash to keep body and soul together for 6 months, I estimated and I had not, as of yet committed myself financially to this wholeheartedly. The cold hard truth was, it was approaching Thanksgiving, we'd been at it virtually full time for 60 days now and I still couldn't see how I or any of the rest of us was going to get paid.

Dallas , Mark and I were meeting at least once a week at a Starbucks on Lake Lanier, as that was roughly central for each of us. When I met Dallas, he was considering buying a 100 stall barn in Acworth, Georgia due north of Atlanta. Part of my first impressions were formed in the enormity of a barn that size. having little frame of reference in the equestrian world, I'll just say that one could easily park a 747 Jumbo jet in it! Well, as that purchase had fallen through and Chuck's admonishment to look for a failed subdivision instead of a farm, we began to ponder our land options toward the lake and closer to Atlanta's equestrian heart, an area call Birmingham Highway, in Alpharetta. In another of what seemed like Providential intrusions, one day I was wandering back from our Starbucks, looking for a scenic route back to town and I stumbled onto Birmingham Highway. As I had time on my hands, I drove north until I came to The Canton Highway (Ga. 20) and randomly turned toward home. In just a minute or two I came over a hill and there stood "Belmont Downs." Truth is stranger than fiction.

4 years ago, I was with a bank client who was trying to market a development called Belmont Downs. I remember it because my hometown was Belmont, NC. Here it was right in front of me and it was beautiful. There was about 2000 feet of frontage on Canton Highway that was lined with 4 rail, black creosote fencing, just like the modern farms in Kentucky are fenced. behind the fence was 30 acres of bluegrass and then a sweep of pine trees that ran over the hill and out of sight. The gate of the now derelict subdivision was locked but a faded sign had the developers name and phone number. Believing that I might just have found, or been pushed toward the exact site we needed, I called the number and got the developer, Tim Rice on the phone and made an appointment for Dallas, mark and me to see the property.

Someone told me long ago, there's a calm before the storm,
I know, Its been comin' for sometime
When its over, so they say, it'll rain a sunny day
I know, shinin' down like a water

And I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain - John Fogerty of CCR

real estate team ASSEMBLE!

As if I needed any more motivation to succeed the incentive stock options that I had earned during my career that were worth $500,000 at the start of the year had fallen to a value of less than $50,000 during the first month that I was thinking about what to do with the rest of my life. I had earned an old fashioned pension too but had no idea if that had any value any more. Facing the loss of most of my retirement assets I resolved that I had everything to gain from succeeding. So, on I marched...

My next call was to a tax lawyer with whom I had worked often, Tony. Tony and I are contemporaries, both from North Carolina and our business relationship had always been super. We have even had a few personal/social outings that were fun as well so I felt like he'd give me the straight scoop on what it was that I was trying. After exchanging voice mails for a week, we finally connected and he was encouraging but deferred to an accountant with whom he worked often who had directly relevant experience. Rick B. is the managing partner of a 180 person accounting firm in Atlanta and he called me back promptly. As it turned out, he had a client several years ago who was developing a 200 acre tract on lake Oconee, about 90 miles from Atlanta. The subdivision was a complete bust so, at Rick B.'s direction he put a conservation easement on all but a hand full of acres, went from 200 building lots to 20 and went through the elaborate process of having the state certify the conservation effort so that he could get the tax benefits designed to encourage land conservation. Additionally, he master planned an inexpensive equestrian facility for the easement property to attract land buyers who enjoyed such amenities. As luck would have it, he sold all of his lots (at a much greater price than he was asking originally) and when combined with the tax benefits that ultimately did come - the venture was a roaring success. Now, three years later the whole transaction is being audited by the IRS but they all feel as though their defense is air tight and they will not only prevail but they'll pave the way for folks like us to similarly succeed. Realizing that having a super qualified resource like Rick B. in my corner, I made plans to cultivate his friendship and get him squarely on our team.

In my experience, there is no better way to demonstrate our serious capacity than to introduce Rick B. to the richest guy I knew. That guy was Rick S. I met Richard S. several years ago and had been moderately successful in getting him to move his investment management relationship to me. Rick S. was 63, had grown up in California where he was a practicing accountant - a "good fact" in the grand scheme. He had worked for one of the state's largest audit houses then left to start his own firm. he built that into a regional player in California finance in the 1970's. During this time his wife had bought a dress shop that was struggling financially. he assumed control of it and when they sold "it" 6 or 7 years later they had 240 retail stores on the west coast. In the late '70's Rick S. sold all of his interests and started developing real estate. Well capitalized, he survived the recession of the early 80's and had the foresight to buy lots of property in the then depressed part of north Dallas, Texas. In the mid '80's when the oil patch was beginning to boom he sold his properties without developing a single one! He took his second fortune and bought then depressed real estate in north Atlanta where he built over a thousand homes and 10 million square feet of industrial space.When he and I met he was worth $100 million and looking for the next thing. He liked my idea but needed confirmation. I was willing to bet that Rick B. would be a credible source of such confirmation and would be interested in meeting such a successful prospective client. My hunch was right and they hit it off beautifully. I now had a confederacy with Dallas, Chuck, Tony, and two different Rick's. I was a long way from imagining how to make money at this but it certainly felt as though I was on to something.