MICKEY GEEST AND AP HOMES

By Debbie Bulloch



In my early SL days I worked selling homes for a company called ABC Homes. Back in those days my supervisor was a Belgian boy named Mickey Geest I needed to make Lindens (well, I still do) and the two “traditional” way for a girl to make money in SL just held no appeal for me. So when Mickey offered me a job selling homes, I accepted his offer before he had time to change his mind.

Like most SL residents, Mickey has an interesting story. He was born in SL on December 1, 2006. He was fortunate enough to meet a nice lady from the USA, Marty McKenna. Marty taught Mickey the essential skills to surviving in SL. Like most newbies, Mickey made money by camping. But camping had one more benefit: it allowed the sociably-adept Mickey to meet and make many friends.



Mickey’s personality is perfectly suited for sales and very soon he was in working for Home Sweet Home, which was in those days one of the leading home selling companies in SL. His team manager, Chrysantha Lafleur taught Mickey a great deal about selling houses; she also taught him a great deal about building issues-solving.

Mickey fluently speaks five languages: Dutch/Flemish, French, German, English and Spanish. (I am fluent in English and Spanish and except for minor glitches, such as calling something “cheap” when he meant “inexpensive,” Mickey’s English and Spanish are very good indeed.) Mickey’s language skills, and his natural ability to connect with people, were real assets in his new SL sales career.

After almost eight months selling for Home Sweet Home, Mickey spoke to the owner of the place where he begun camping when he joined SL. The owner, Ami Lang was looking to enlarge her business presence in SL. Ami asked Mickey if he was interested in becoming the sales manager for her new ABC Home Sales company. Mickey was charged with creating a sales staff for ABC Homes. So, in addition to selling homes, Mickey set out to recruit and train new sales reps for ABC Home sales. Mickey is very passionate about meeting, and helping new people so in a very short time he had assembled a highly trained sales staff (myself included.)

NOTE: BH’s very own talented and prolific builder, yucca Gemini, built some of the best homes sold by ABC Homes. See yucca’s story at ABC Homes here: yucca.



Unfortunately, however, in SL as in RL sooner or later all good things must come to an end. Eventually Mickey spoke to Ami about his desire to start his own home sales company. Ami agreed and soon AP Homes was born!

The company’s full name, AP Homes = A Perfect Home for you, was suggested by Skye Joubert, another well-known SL business woman. Soon, Mickey assembled a staff of creative and talented builders. In addition to yucca Gemini, AP Homes was joined by builders Aarushi Sakai and Lollypop Schumann.

Together with his talented builders and help from a group of good friends such as Barbie Cannned, Meisha Verstandig and Skye Joubert Mickey was soon able to build AP Homes into a major presence in the ever-changing SL home sales business.

Now Mickey, his German-born wife, Lysa Chaffe, and their daughter, MilyChaffeGeest Vaher enjoy the rewards that come to a person who treats each customer as an individual and is dedicated to by providing superb customer service.



As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, I began my selling career at ABC Homes. Over time, however, Mickey and I became great friends. I met Mickey’s wife, Lysa, at ABC and soon she and I also became great friends – I was the maid of honor at their wedding and now I am the proud godmother of their daughter, Mily.

It gives me great pleasure to be a witness to Mickey’s and Lysa’s growing success. AP Homes is proof that with the right combination of builders and sales staff plus an enduring commitment to customer service, a business will proper and grow – even in these tough economic times.

And now, a pictorial tour of AP Homes.









If you want to know more about AP Homes send Mickey an IM, he will be happy to answer all your questions.