Escrow was 90 days and at the time there was no one we could find doing acquisition to construction loans, especially to a couple kooks so we got a private money loan at 8% interest, 60% LTV, Interest Only to close the deal.Early project rendering.The homes are 840 square feet each and were a challenging design exercise due to rigid site constraints: a restrictive FAR, flood plain and 30' coastal height limit that really gave us a very defined envelope in which to operate.

a list of 100 properties delinquent come D day boils down to 2 or 3 if your lucky .. and that his competition will offer equity.. not just deed it over.. now in the HOOD this can happen.. crumbling derelict buildings etc.. but not generally with anything worth owning.but he needs to go through the exercise to see that this is a dream.. and not reality.. and there is uber competition .. this is hardly a new concept.

Room for a Ping pong table, sewing machine and quilt design board, exercise equipment or just a couch and video game console.

You tell him what to do to infill the lots, and he is out of pocket the money needed to get the homes in there, and you collect a 10% management fee for your time and effort to turnaround the Park, and also agree with a bonus structure as Ed Emmons suggested.Once you have the Park full it will be well worth over the value of the Option and you can decide whether you want to sell the option for a profit or exercise it and take over the Park.Options can be tricky and many option purchasers want to have the title in escrow so that the Seller can't back out later when you want to exercise it.I would not spend a dime of your money on capital improvements or homes when you don't own the Park.  

You should be able to find some historic data on appreciation rates for the Greenpoint area to support your estimated appreciation on a pro forma basis.As a side note...estimating appreciation is a great exercise, but there is much more to consider on an an asset and project of this type. 

PROFESSIONAL INSPECTIONS AND INSPECTION NOTICES: Buyer may conduct at Buyer’s expense (unless payment for such expense is otherwise required by governmental regulation) any or all of the following inspections of the Real Estate by one or more licensed or certified inspection services: home, radon, environmental, lead-based paint, lead-based paint hazards or wood-destroying insect infestation, or any other inspections desired by Buyer in the exercise of reasonable due diligence.

It is easy to exercise when you are in the habit of exercising.

Poor work ethics, drinking on the job, etc.If he does not finish you must exercise whatever stipulations that you have to resolve a breach in contract.Seek legal advice and have an attorney tell you what can be done.Depending on the state there may be a fund that you could receive damages from if he does not finish.I am no expert, but your contract should have been created by a lawyer or at least reviewed and include what you can do and should do in situations such as these.

One of my mentors had me do an exercise about coming to grips with one of my biggest fears, which at the time was fear of embarrassment.

...what would you do with it?

(Obviously, I'm looking for purely RE related answers)