The March Miracle

I am a believer in Miracles. When someone asks how I came to Balboa Island, how I bought my house on Balboa Island and how my life has unfolded here. I say it is a miracle. A true miracle.
I rented a small office on Agate for our Island Flooring business in December of 1994. There was another office next door - eventually we rented that too. And sublet it to a two decorators - Linda Newman and Carol Bento. It was a great match since Flooring was a fairly new industry for me. Mike has been doing it since the 1970s, but I had been through several changes in my life at the administrative end of a business. I am one of those entrepreneurs who has at least one - and up to four businesses going on at once. Still do. I guess that is part of my ADHD!!
Linda and Carol taught me a lot about colors and design and when they moved on Island Flooring had grown enough that we took over both spaces at 118 Agate. Joan McNair, who owned the mixed use building Island Flooring is in, wanted to sell. For the self-emmployed qualifying for a mortgage is not an easy task. Joan was my angel - she carried the paper on the building and once I owned it I could easily get a mortgage from a bank at a lower rate. Unfortunately this was not the smartest move I ever made in my life, banks being what they are today.
But owning the building allowed Mike and I to move into the living quarters upstairs and solve the problem of housing on Balboa Island. This is a challenge since people sell, rent to relatives, raise the rent beyond your ability to pay and even pass away on a regular basis here in Paradise. Leaving renters to try and find another place. And the places are getting fewer and fewer as the little beach cottages and residences with back units are being torn down and replaced with single family homes.
Ownership has also allowed us to scale back to one unit in this "recession" and rent the other office. The small apartment is a weekly vacation rental after being a yearly for the first 7 years of the 10 that we have been property owners.
Now, if I own property in an area with the real estate values of Balboa Island. Without a dime of my own money originally - a banker friend loaned me the down payment because I didn't want to take my money out of the stock market :) If that can happen to me - it is a sure sign that miracles do exist. For me, for everyone.
I woke up one morning and heard a small voice tell me that there was going to be a "March Miracle". We all need Miracles. Especially right now. There are Miracles. So let's all pass it on - belive in the 'March Miracle'. You don't have to 'know' what it is - just be open to it. Be able to see it when it comes. It may be huge or it may be tiny - but there WILL be a 'March Miracle' for all of us. Just like there was a miracle for me that let me live and own on Balboa Island!!