David Bell I think you have correctly identified the problem.

@Terry Odom  work the phones  real estate is  belly to belly.

So yes, if you can afford to put down $200,000 and see NO return from it for 25 years, but THEN you get a fat check for $1,500,000 (in 2040 dollars) when you sell (it should have been for $3,000,000, except for the great crash of  2025), then yes, many people use this approach.

Numbers are numbers, last time I checked they don't smack you or call you fat so I don't understand how they come with emotions. 

There's an old saying, "Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered."

I run anywhere from 50-80k in just overhead realtors taxes/recordation on both sides and interest (using a line of credit at 4-6%} and you need a fat spread to cover those costs.

I’m looking in the belly of the beast - Cold Spring / Garrison.

Since it sounds like there's plenty of fat on this deal, I would say do what she asks and do it right.

Without an Exclusive Buyer's Agent Agreement, I'd say that realtor is out like the fat kid in 5th grade dodge ball!

The old chicks, fat chicks, and ugly chicks will say that it ain't so, but they are wrong.