Help - Would you do this deal?

[Account Closed]

Now that I have your attention. It was a preforeclosure in a very nice neighborhood in Seattle at a time, long ago, when you could do preforeclosures in Seattle. (you can't do those now, it can be considered a criminal act). 

He was accustomed to making really good money and was recovering from a medical concern so his consulting business had suffered. They answered my "Million Dollar Letter" (posted elsewhere at BP) and wanted a meeting. At the time, they had no money. There was a ton of equity in the property. After discussing the situation with them, I proposed a solution that would save their property but the only thing they had to offer was a deed to some land in southern eastern Oregon they hadn't seen in 40 years. I took the offer.

Why would I take the deed to property (before google maps) sight unseen and help them save their house? Here is the property. The answer is below the pictures:

They had no idea (nor did I) of what an acre of rocky, volcanic empty land would look like or sell for. Turned out, Not much. Initially.

But, I knew what they knew, that they had two options at the time because they brought it up. They said that If I could keep them from having to file chapter 13 bankruptcy to save their property, they would deed over 80 Acres of Oregon "Outback". Yep. Just like Australia, barren but without Kangaroos. 

I did the math in my head. If I don't help them, they file chapt 13 because they already knew that was an option and they had an attorney waiting for their decision and then I'm out of the deal. They would NOT be selling me the property, no matter what. If I help them, I have 80 Acres of "something". 

No money exchanged hands. They deeded over the property and I used my experience in dealing with banks and foreclosures to keep the house from going to sale. I put about 10 hours into it.

I then went the next step to try to sell the Oregon "outback". I put it on various websites (no Facebook, no Craigslist or anything like that at the time.) I made up a number to sell it at. No takers at $9,000 That's $112.50 per acre. I offered it to the owner of the 160 acres "next door" who was a teacher in Portland planning on retiring "on the ranch". He said "$9,000 is way overpriced.) So, I figured I'd make lemonade of swamp juice and turn the land into an RV Park.

That was a joke. It's a days drive from anywhere and the highway has no traffic to speak of.

So, I sold it as "vacation property". I gave the listing (one of the very few times I've used a realtor) to a buddy of mine, who is an agent in Coos Bay, OR. I bumped the price up to $32,000 since it is now "vacation property" and a trucker who was looking for a place to put a mobile and call it "home" offered $28,000. I snapped that up so fast it made the agent's head spin. The trucker got a place "out of the way" that he could put his mobile and I got $28,000 less commissions. So, ultimately, with a little patience I got a huge return for having specialized expertise, helping people and being creative. (Yes, we went to Europe as a family on that one and had a lot left over. I bought some mementos while in Moscow. )

Why do I mention all this? We've got to remember that we can't second guess what the seller is willing to do or has knowledge of for their solutions, unless we ask.

Not all transactions are "dollar specific" reward immediately.

If we look at our transactions as win/win with people who have needs and emotions, we can better figure out solutions that meet everybody's goals.