Debbie

"One Saturday, he dropped off his mother and drove through to Foxton. He ambled along the main street, killing time. Pausing to look in the window of a real estate agency, Rod Weir & Co., he saw an advertisement for a block of land with ‘subdivision potential’ near the local racecourse. It cost $10,000. Heatley at the time would have had about $800 if he had sold his shares and added the proceeds to his Post Office savings. He opened the door and walked in. Just as Ron Jarden had taken Heatley’s call a few years earlier, so the agent took him seriously now, even though Heatley openly admitted that he was at school and had little money. But he had time and was interested in the property so the agent drove him to look at the land, which was covered in weeds and scrub. Heatley was impressed by the size of it and could see, when the agent pointed it out, how it could be turned into a residential subdivision. He could also see how he could make money from it. This, at last, was the potential for real earnings. Driving home, he excitedly told his mother about the land and its potential. She was incredulous that he would consider anything so absurd but probably comforted herself knowing that nothing could come of it because her son could not possibly afford it. But Heatley could not let the idea go. At school and in the evenings, he considered what he would need to do to create a subdivision. He contacted a surveyor and the next time Heatley went to Levin, they met. Once again, Heatley’s easy manner, his frankness in admitting this was all new to him and his ability to see past the numerous obstacles in his way gained him a sympathetic hearing. Did the real estate agent and the surveyor, perhaps learning that his father had died, feel sorry for him? Or did they simply think that if this foolish kid was prepared to risk his deposit, they might as well take it off him? Heatley does not know but after several long discussions with the surveyor about section sizes, prices, utilities and planning rules, he felt sufficiently confident to make an offer. Heatley confessed he had nothing like the $10,000 asking price. The agent said he would accept $1000 as a deposit. Heatley went to a bank to ask for a loan and was turned down. He went back to the agent and said he could offer $200 now and the balance of the $10,000 would have to wait until some of the sections could be sold. There must have been no sign of a better offer. The agent accepted the terms and with that Heatley became the schoolboy-owner of several scrub-covered acres of undeveloped land in Foxton, with a $9800 debt that he had no way of paying unless his foray into property development, about which he had so recently known nothing, was successful. What he had on his side was that the surveyor and agent wanted it to work too. The surveyor said his fees would be $1500. Heatley told him he would pay $2000 but not until some sections were sold. Debbie thinks their mother, who was always ready to stand behind her son, helped out with the odd bill. But putting in a road, sewerage, water and stormwater were jobs for professionals. He had to raise some money."

"‘He had us wound around his little finger, secretarially,’ Debbie says. He was getting used to the idea that when he explained what he wanted, people would do it."