I have recounted the purchase of our first cottage at Crystal Lake in 1977 many times. The owner was Mr. Mallman from Kohler. He had spent his life working at Kohler Company and he built the cottage at Crystal Lake out of a labor of love. His health was failing due to severely reduced lung capacity. We could tell he was somewhat reluctant to part with his cottage but he knew it was time. I think that he was comfortable with our young family buying the cottage knowing that our kids could enjoy the lake.
I asked Mr. Mallman what he wanted for the cottage and he said $30,000. It was 1977 and that was a fair price. I always had the feeling that he felt it was a high price and he might not get full value. Being decisive (which isn't like me), I said we would take the cottage at full price and we would have all the papers drawn up by a lawyer. We shook hands. We had a deal.
About 4 weeks later, we all met at Mooney and Mooney Law Offices in Plymouth to sign all the papers. Mooney's is where your Mom worked while I was going to college. Mallman's only request was to arrange values on furniture and cottage values to reduce capital gains for tax purposes. It was no big deal.
As we were signing the property transfer papers, I asked Mallman if many people had looked at the cottage. He said it was really strange but minutes after we had visited to make the original deal, a couple from Milwaukee arrived. They toured the property (I guess Mallman didn't want to be rude) and offered a premium price of $35,000. Mallman indicated that he had sold the cottage that very morning and refused the higher offer.
As we were leaving Mooney Law Offices, we invited the Mallmans to visit any time. They did come back once just to see how we were doing.
It would have been so easy for Mr. Mallman to renege on our deal. He was a high integrity guy and he kept his word.
I recount the story of our first cottage because it seems like the world keeps moving towards lower values and broken promises. You are what your values say you are. Mr. Mallman was a very special guy! It was very important for him to keep his word.
Love,
Dad