Bartering labor for property

[Brandon Craig]

I was offered to buy a rental condo in my area for $40K from an older friend of mine (probably a $5K discount from its value).  While I only have about 25K to start my investing career, I thought of an interesting way to potentially acquire the rental property...

My friend owns and operates a relatively large landscaping company in our neighborhood.  I too own a smaller landscaping business, and we've worked together in the past.  I thought what if I offered to pay him 20K for the property up front and in addition, I could work off the remaining balance by providing x amount of hours of labor over the next 2 landscaping seasons.  This would not only allow me to acquire the property without paying interest on a loan, but it would also create a more solid business relationship with an already great mentor in the industry.

Has anyone attempted something similar to this?  And is this idea crazy?