I've always been a "nester" and not owning my own home is something that just didn't feel right. We had sold our home in Georgia and made a small profit, but when we started looking to purchase a home in Mendham, our hearts sank. There was no way. Not only were the prices triple what they were in Georgia, but the taxes were astronomical.
I did some research in the newspapers and phone books and located a school in Parsippany that taught real estate sales. The class was about six weeks long and then you would take a crash two day week-end course to prepare you for the state examination in Trenton. At that time, real estate agents in that area were not allowed to write contracts, so the sellers and buyers attorneys were always used for that. Getting financing, if needed, was up to the purchaser and most of the people in that area already had the means and contacts at their banks to get their mortgage. So, the agents, basically just showed the properties and made cold calls to get listings. I could do that.
I passed the class, took the crash course, got on a train to Trenton, passed the exam the first time, and, poof, became a licensed real estate agent. Passing that exam was quite an achievement for me. I hate test taking, but I studied very hard and was confident I knew the material. I made a few calls to Brokers, and found one in Basking Ridge. It turns out, his office was the exclusive sales office for the newest exclusive development in Mendham called Oak Knoll. Frank Yingling was the Broker and had two or three agents already working for him, but we worked out an agreement for me to work through his office to sell property. This is the way I became friends with our next couple of best friends in Mendham. Lucille, a husband and wife couple, The Ports, and I were the agents to cover Oak Knoll's model home. The development had lots of three and five acres. The homes were custom built and expensive!
Lucille Cerra was already a licensed agent and actually lived in Mendham Township, just right up the road from Oak Knoll. Lucille's husband, Frank, was a builder in the area. As luck would have it, Lucille took me under her wing and helped me get my "feet wet." Eventually, I would make a few sales in the Oak Knoll development, and another sale in another county and then the market went south. It was a difficult time for a lot of people. Especially real estate sales agents.
But, the good news was, Lu and Frank became such good friends and mentors to our family - just like the Beltons. They invited us into their home and circle of friends, and taught my children the "proper" way to eat spaghetti. We visited their farm in Carbondale, PA, and later, their home at the Jersey shore town of Sea Girt. After we moved away, they visited with us and we visited them in Sun City, SC, one summer when they rented a place there. They ultimately retired to Aiken, SC. We visited them there as well a few years ago, but sadly, they have both passed away. Their only son, Donald, carries on Frank's tradition and builds custom and "green" homes in the Aiken area. He and I have become Facebook friends.
Frank and Lu were good folks and the salt of the earth. They always were special to us and Frank became a mentor to my son Jim, taking him under his wing and taught him how to use a hammer and saw. Frank taught him that the easy way wasn't always the right way. He instilled in him the value of doing a good job at anything he did, even if it was raking leaves or cutting grass. Jim always respected Frank's advice and remembers him to this day for his kindness to him.
Frank and Lu had a farm in Carbondale, PA, that was used for skiing in the winter and a dirt bike race track in the summer. Our son Jim has always been his own man. He worked a paper route, pumped gas, raked leaves, or whatever he could do to make his spending money when he was a teenager. He had severe allergies which were found the first spring we were there when he came in from school with his eyeballs turned wrong side out. He took allergy shots for many years which allowed him to survive cutting grass and raking leaves.
He wanted a dirt bike really bad but we had told him that he couldn't have one. I always worried they were too dangerous and did not like him riding one. He saved his money, working for Frank and all the other odd jobs he could and bought himself a bike anyway, and stowed it away at Frank and Lu's barn. I imagine Frank was in on the deal from the get go, but wouldn't swear to it. He was crazy about Jim. If he knew, I'm sure he figured it was safe and maybe Jim just needed a little more time to work on me. He was probably right.
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