Property Point

It’s not how things start that matters, it’s how they finish. Which takes me back to the Austral Hotel on a Friday evening a couple of weeks ago.

I was there with workmates having some farewell drinks for a long-term colleague. I had a few beers and, although it wasn’t many, it was probably one or two beers too many for me to be able to drive. So I left the car in the hotel car park and got my wife to pick me up.

I live in West Mackay near the Botanic Gardens and the next morning I decided to run into town with the dog, drive home and be ready and energized for my open homes that day. Anyway, my first open house was at Blacks Beach at 9am that day so the dog and I set off about 7.10am for what is a 20-minute run.

The car was reverse parked and when we got there and I started the car and tried to drive out of the parking spot, the car wouldn’t move. I tried again, revving the engine a bit more but it wouldn’t budge.

When I got out and checked it out, I could see from the undercarriage that when I had reversed into the spot, the muffler had slid over the concrete block that is designed to stop your wheels going any further, but it was stuck on a big bolt in the concrete block and wouldn’t move forward.

The exhaust pipe was higher and okay but the muffler itself had got stuck on a big metal bolt that sticks out the top of the concrete block and holds it in place. When I tried to move forward the bolt pulled the muffler down and the car would not move.

It was 7.40am, 100 minutes before my first open house. There was no one around, I don’t run with a phone and the dog was getting nervous. I muttered something to myself along the lines of: This is jolly disappointing! Darn it!

I tried removing everything out of my boot to lighten the load and put my open house directional signs in front of the rear wheel to elevate the back to get it above the bolt but that didn’t work … It's 7.50am and the dog and I are both stressed.

I decided to jack the rear of the car up well above the damn metal bolt in the concrete block and drive the car forward a few inches to set it free. And it worked! The jack rolled forward a bit and was left facing forward on a 45-degree angle but the job was done.

I quickly threw everything back in the boot, jumped in the car, gave the dog a pat and drove out. It was 8am. I was home by 8.10am, ready to leave at 8.25am and pulled up at the open house at 8.55am, later than I’d like but not bad in the circumstances.

I had three great open homes that day; the house in Blacks Beach sold, another one in Mt Pleasant sold and I got a good offer on another one … good results for the sellers.

No matter what, keep smiling, persevere and believe.

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