10/19/2020 0 Comments Becoming First American 2 of 2 Being Purchased In 1995, First American Financial, the parent company to all things First American bought a large financial company with many divisions, one of which was a national appraisal management company. This was the start of First American Appraisal. First American felt that their new appraisal company needed more stability so they also bought a small California company and invited us to consider being purchased. Their goal was to merge us all together. From the time they invited us to the time we agreed in 1997 (two years later), I was in conflict about the decision. Steve, my partner and actually the major legal owner of our company was also ambivalent. On the “yes” side of the decision, both Steve and I were clear that the lending market was consolidating. We believed that, within a few years, there would be only ten or less major lenders doing the majority of residential lending in the United States. This turned out to be true. These large lenders only wanted to work with large appraisal management companies and we way were too small. A second important consideration was that there were better opportunities for our employees, opportunities that we could not offer. Due to our structure there was limited room for advancement. This had already caused some excellent people to leave and start their own appraisal companies. For me personally, there was the potential of financial stability with the possibility of thinking about a financial plan for “retirement.” On the “no” side, I had many biases against large corporations. I was a product of the 1960s hippy generation (I actually was at Woodstock) and my take was that large corporations were not good places to work. I was fearful about the regimentation as well as losing the joy of being in control of our business. I talked with many people and received mixed messages. Some saw it as a great opportunity. Others told me that I would not like it at all, and probably would not survive corporate regimentation. As we approached 1997, it was clear that we had to make a decision. It had taken almost a year to get the company ready legally to be purchased with ownership issues etc. We visited First American in California and were impressed by the quality of the people we met. We also really saw how small we were compared to a $12 billion corporation. I had already developed the ability to invite “inner consultants” to advise me with my challenges. I found and still find this to be a very useful approach to tuning into the deeper wisdom in myself. Then, a truly surprising thing happened. My dad, who had died ten years before, started appearing in my dreams. It was even possible to “talk” with him during waking hours. We had a wonderful relationship when I was young and I knew he was now here to help. He reminded me that at one point in his life he was in a similar situation. He and his business partner had started a sweater manufacturing company in the late 1940s. Through creativity, hard work, and luck, they had grown their company from a “thought” to owning two manufacturing plants, one in the Bronx, where he worked, and a second in North Carolina. They employed over 200 people. He had made a good living throughout my childhood. He and my mom had simple tastes and lived in the same two-bedroom apartment in Queens all their married life. However, most of the “savings” were put back into the business. Somewhere in the 1970s, it became clear that Taiwan could outcompete him on price. A much larger company in his industry offered to buy him out. The idea of his giving up control of his “baby” was too much for him and he said No. Three years later, his company went bankrupt and within a few years he developed a brain tumor, no doubt influenced by stress and his deep sense of loss and failure. He tried to rally after that but the joy in his life was never quite the same. He died at 69 from cancer. It was not a good ending. My dad knew what I cared about. During our “visits, he reminded me that life is an adventure. He pointed out that we never know how much time we have left and how things will play out. His take was that this opportunity, with all the possible negatives, might hold remarkable surprises and it might be a great gift. Maybe not, but no way to know if I didn’t try. And then he told me that his saying “No” was, by far, the worst decision he ever made. That struck my heart and I told Steve that I was all in if he was. We sold our company to First American hoping that it would be a good decision for ourselves and many others. Although my dad has “visited” throughout the years, the clarity of these encounters was never repeated. Perhaps the intensity of my struggle was what allowed this connection to occur. Thus, in 1997, when I turned 50, I felt that I had set off on a new voyage into the unknown.
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