134 ARDEN Under contract-accepting backup offers. If your customer is looking for an affordable LAKEFRONT retreat on a beautiful lake, take him out to this picturesque spot on Lake Junior. The mobile home is old and tired. The road is dirt. The neighbors drive pick up trucks. This is a place for a person of vision. Take your customer here , sit on the steps by the lake and ask your customer, "Is that a pretty scene?". He will probably ask you , " What do you think it will cost to fix up that old tired mobile home?'. You can answer him and tell him that you are not a expert on home repairs but you can go over to Palatka and buy a brand new one for $60, 000. Imagine it is 2044 instead of 2024. Imagine that you are sitting right here with your five year old granddaughter. She asks you, " Grandpa how is it that you were smart enough to buy this beautiful lakefront house back in 2024?" You could reply " Well Sweetie when I was your age, I lived in Jacksonville and Clay county was considered the boondocks. The rich folks in Jacksonville would buy a retreat there. By the time I was grown I could not afford a retreat in Clay county but I could afford to buy this little old tired mobile home on a dirt road in Putnam county. So I did. Your Grandma and I would come here on the weekends and hang out and your dad and his friends would fish and water ski and swim and just have a good time just like your doing now. I added a little to it constantly. It is amazing how fast twenty years goes by. Roads get paved. Mortgages get paid off. Kids grow up. Real estate appreciates in value. Lakefront property appreciates faster that other property. Twenty years from now you will probably be having the same conversation with your son sitting in this same spot. When I was considering buying this place back in 2024, your Grandma asked me to wait until tomorrow to make a decision. My grandma told me to make a decision today . She said, "If you wait until tomorrow to decide someone else will decide for you. You will spend the rest of your life telling your friends that you coulda woulda shoulda bought this place back when you first saw it. I did make a decision in 2024 . That is how it is that I was smart enough to own this beautiful lakefront house in 2044. I could not afford to pay what folks are paying for these houses today." Ask your customer to make a decision today. You will both be glad that you did.