An alternative to what JScott mentioned is the have them commit a non-trivial amount of money that is hard immediately if they are serious.

This isn't quite a hypothetical question, but I'll keep it general in nature.I've noticed a few husband/wife teams (or couples in alternative relationships) where both are real estate professionals.

His alternatives are few...traditional sale means cash out of pocket which the seller probably doesn't have, a short sale which half result in a foreclosure anyway...they go into foreclosure and take the "atomic bomb" FICO hit, or...they assign the payment.An unsellable house to a probably unloanable buyer.

Mutual funds I have in my 401k have done horrible, I mean unbelievably bad (on the order of maybe a 2% average gain over the past 10 years).Needless to say, I quit adding to my 401k a couple years ago and instead will invest those funds in RE.

The Law suits against Bank of America and Countrywide whom they purchased, with respect to their miss management of their mortgage portfolio may be a bigger concern especially if wikilieaks has information substantiating criminal actions in this regard.I have found Bank of America to be grossly incompetent when it comes to modifications and in my opinion borderline criminal but if their unbelievable lack of concern for their customers turns out to be intentional and criminal they will pay the price. i would not have my money with the Bank of America.

Alternatively, you could start off with some cheaper condominiums.

You really need to have a solid plan and not many alternatives to choose the right product.

However, these alternative strategies, often times incur a largr upfront cost usually in the form of a downpayment or other consideration which greatly increase the risk factor.The ultimate litmus test, in my opinion, is the B in an SLO an integral part of the transaction?

An alternative is go get a line of credit of some sort.

The IRS generally does not move in to sell properties for amounts due, they will collect from other alternatives first.