TRAVEL AND LEARN

Evening Star, Issue 18033, 29 July 1922, Page 14

TRAVEL AND LEARN

THE TROUBLES OF A LAND AGENT. “You must have some queer experiences ■" yunr 1 ino, I said to my travelling f n:ji inion, whom I knew to be a, laud j and estate agent in rather a big way in the city, and also a raconteur of no mean ability. We had found' ourselves thrown together by circumstances in a Northern town where I bad been making some discreet inquiries for my paper, and we were now both homeward' bound. “ Well, yes,” be said). “We do run up against some queer things and diameters in tho course of our business.” “Are you ever imposed upon or taken in?” I inquired, seeing that ho,was inclined to talk. “Some of them get away with it,” he answered ; “ but most of tho agents are fairly smart men, and can generally pick a ‘ dud. Our biggest trouble ia with the people who come into the office and 1 ask to see some house properties. We prepare a list and make an appointment so that we can take them out in the firm’s car to inspect the houses. Perhaps the lady will turn up the next day for the appointment, accompanied by her children and several friends.” My coiapm.mn paused for a while, and then resumed, sorrowfully. “ Joy-rider, my friend—nothing but joyriders. They have a nice run around the suburbs at the agent’s expense, then calmly say that they do not see anything that they like. “Then, again,” continued my companion, “there is the dass of prospective buyer who comes to see us about buying a property, and says she (it is generally a. woman) wants a well-built brick bungalow with a. nice garden in a good residential locality. I ask her what price she is prepared to go to. ‘Oh, about £700,' she replies, evidently thinking that houses can be bought as cheaply as Ford motor cars. ‘ Madam,’ 1 said to one such fair home-seckor, ‘ what you want is a house in Paradise, with bay windows looking straight on to the Garden of Eden; but we do not list them here.’

“There was one quaint experience I had once,” he said in answer to my “Go on,” “when I was taken in badly. A welldressed, elderly man came into the office one day and said! he wanted to purchase a house. Business was slack at the time, so 1 took him in hand myself. As he seemed to have all the day to spare, and was evidently a ‘ buyer/ 1 set myself out to he agreeable, and thought of the commission which was 'badly needed by the firm. Wo inspected ai number of houses and visited' several hotels during the course of the morning. My client appeared 1 to have plenty of spare cash, and was not backward in shouting the drinks which I needed after loquaciously describing the good points oi all tiho places we bad viaited. Ho took a great fancy to one bouse, a.nd I began to think the commission was as good as in my pocket. He told me his sister had charge of his money, and' only she could sign cheques, but he would see me the following day and pay the deposit then. " After several more drinks I could see that the old chap was really_ going to make a day oi it; so, not wanting to lose him, I took him to lundh at an hotel at the firm’s expense, and left him later in the afternoon. I waited anxiously all next morning for him to come in with the cheque ; but not a sign of him, so I strolled around to the hotel where we had lunched and asked the proprietor if he knew anytiring of him. Mine host informed me- that my ‘ buyer ’ had stopped tho night at the hotel, and left in the morning, forgetting to pay his bill. My spirits sank. ‘ Goodbye, commission,’ thought I. I asked the landlord if he knew who his decamped truest was. ‘ Oh, yea,’ he informed me ; 'he’s an old age pensioner.’ I collapsed and called for a brandy and soda at the firm’s expense. “ But I must tell you of one client from the country,” said my friend after we bad finished chuckling over this hist tale. “This man,” he said, “certainly had tho appearance of a wealthy farmer, and was evidently something of a dreamer, judging by his mild blue eyes, but no doubt he could make as hard a bargain as anybody. One could sco that he was used to big, open spaces, and it surprised me when I heard him state that he wanted to exchange his farm for a town residence. But I am always willing to oblige a good customer, so I showed him just the kind of house that would suit him, with a fairish bit of ground in which he would not feel too cramped after the open fields, and within easy distance of the tram. As ho liked it, I decided to return with him and' value tho farm he was desirous of exchanging. He told me it was only a little way up the north line, and that the homestead was a magnificent building, haying been at one time the country residence of a city magnate. “I believed him. He seemed to fit into the picture of a beautiful old country home surrounded with lawns and shrubberies, and a long sweeping drive up to the front porch. Well, the following day ray gentleman farmer with tho mild blue eyes and myself took the north line train. The various stations passed, and at last we stopped at Seacliff. I wondered. ‘So wc get out here,’ I asked 1 ? ‘Yes,’ he smid in a far-away voice. I knew he was thinking about that stately old borne be was giving up to come to live in a suburban district in the smoky atmosphere of the town. ‘lt is not far out; we will walk,’ he murmured. We did so, and within a short time we were entering just such a drive as I had imagined l . Again I wondered. We had not gone far when two uniformed men appeared and quickly grasped my blue-eyed friend by the arms and welcomed him home. I ceased to yonder. That is the end of that little experience,” said my travelling companion. “I don’t believe it,” said I.

“I thought you wouldn’t,” he said with a, twinkle in his eye; “but here is our destination.”