“Builder Embraced Taking Homes in Trade”

I have worked with Mark for many years. A few years ago he started an over 55 project at a time that values were declining. I set up a meeting with the Realtor, Attorney, Banker, Mark and myself to discuss what to do to survive.

During the two hour meeting I could see that we were getting nowhere fast. I through out the possibility of taking properties in trade, as there were folks that wanted to buy, but they weren’t selling their properties. Here was the immediate responses, the Realtor said, I don’t see that working, the attorney said that it sounds like a nightmare, the banker said that it won’t solve the debt problem and Mark said, he just died and went to heaven.

A very long story short, the banker agreed to finance 75% loans on the properties being taken in trade, the Realtor got a boat load of extra properties to sell, the attorney got many additional closings. Mark sold out his remaining 28 units, the last one closed 2 weeks ago and ended up actually taking title to 9 properties that didn’t sell prior to the construction period. He lost money on one condo that he took in trade and made a small amount on the other 8 properties. Oh, by the way I was fortunate to get all but 3 of the mortgages.

We are meeting next week to discuss his next project and will be offering the same program. With a little ingenuity, there is a way to sell real estate no matter what the market.