We won the lottery and got our dream property

[Ian Broadie]

Investment Info:

Other buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $60,000
Cash invested: $60,000

This is a crazy story and even though it's the best thing that could have happened to us, I don't like telling people about it because it's "too good to be true." We bought 3 acres of ocean front property with a SE view of Mt. Rainier surrounded by 40+ acres of county owned forest - just 7 minutes outside downtown Gig Harbor and amenities. This property is easily worth $450k+ and we bought it for $60k because the listing mistakingly said it was landlocked and we were the first to look into it.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I wasn't! My wife and I were day dreaming and looking at land to build on in our 'what if' world - but when you see something too good to be true, it's always worth looking into.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Just browsing the MLS. The property had gone in and out of contract 3 or 4 times by the time we offered and because it was a bank owned property (and the agent had never stepped foot on it) we offered all the money we had, which was less than half the asking price, however we provided proof of funds, promised a two week closing and eliminated all our contingencies. They had dealt with a lot of BS and we promised to make this simple and painless.

How did you finance this deal?

Savings. We were wrapping up our previous project (a duplex house hack) and had started turning our eyes towards finding another one - our goal was to save up $100k before moving on something but this came first.

How did you add value to the deal?

Investigating! The listing said the property was landlocked, however I knew it's illegal not to have access to your property in Washington (it's just a pain in the rear to make it happen - go through court, lots of time and money). I began looking in the public records to see if anyone had ever started the process by suing for access and, to my surprise, they had. Not only did they, but they had won access and there was in fact a 30 ft wide easement connecting to the county road. Crazy.

What was the outcome?

We bought the property! And it's worth around $450-500k as a buildable lot! This obviously increased our net worth dramatically but it's also afforded us some options we had never considered possible. We just bought the property a few months ago but because we weren't planning on building any time soon we are just slowly putting together plans and we hope to start building in a few years. First we will do an ADU and then the primary structure so we can continue house hacking.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Always always always turn every stone. The agent had told everyone this property was landlocked - he got that information from the previous owners, who had got it from the neighbor. The neighbor isn't a credible source! I spoke to that neighbor later and he told me he had always thought it wasn't buildable but after showing him the paperwork he couldn't believe it and wished he would have bought it. Incredible.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

I'm a real estate agent and managing broker at Windermere. I had two separate title companies investigate my findings to make sure I wasn't crazy. Once that discovery was made, it was just a race to the finish line!

[Ian Broadie]

@Constance Chambers that’s wild!! A whole other bedroom being hidden away? I bet that was a shock haha I might have to add your door policy to my showing routine! Congratulations and good luck on finding another great opportunity!