Conference Call

      Mr. D'Antoni was in a situation. He had to settle his accounts, only he didn't have enough cash to. He had to sell some of his newer properties, but he couldn't find a buyer. They wanted his core properties. They wanted his big moneymakers. And they wanted them for what he wanted to sell his distressed properties for.

     "So do we have a deal?" the head of the South Florida property company said.

     "I can't, I'm sorry. I can't sell these properties for what you're offering."
     "If you can't, you can't, but we're going to move on a project soon. Yours is definitely, our total highest priority, we want to do it so much. We see huge potential, we really like that block and we believe in the neighborhood it's in. But, you know, we can't just sit on the cash. We need returns. So we'll give you until the end of the day on Friday and then we're going to say, we'll withdraw the offer."
     Mr. D'Antoni really hated it. They were playing hardball with him, and there was literally no other options. They were the only buyer. They could have played even harder, and there was nothing he could have done about it. He needed cash. He couldn't borrow anything. He had only one thing to turn into cash and it was his block of Geary Street.

     Well, he decided, he would still hold on to a piece of it. He would still have some of it. And, who knew, maybe they would tired of the property and Federico would be in a better place in a couple years. He could have his properties back then. But if he couldn't settle, it was going to court, and if it went to court, he was going to be dealing with that instead of trying to salvage what he could from his assets.

     "Okay, let's meet again on Friday. Say 10 AM? What time is that on the East Coast. 1? Is that okay?"
     "Yes," the man said. "Friday. We're really excited."
     "Okay. Thank you. Talk to you Friday."
     When they hung up, he looked over at his lawyer.

     "You're really getting screwed on this deal."
     Mr. D'Antoni nodded, and rapped his cane. "These are hard times. Could get harder. No choice in the matter. Hold on and maybe things get worse."
     His lawyer nodded. In these situations, it was sometimes necessary to, like bad medicine, swallow it all in one drop.