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selling it. That was just that. The property was slightly overpriced but that did not matter, because I saw the long term value. So that was obstacle number two. The third obstacle was that there were several neighbors who did not want that property developed. Did you ever hear the phrase, “Not in my back yard”? Well, that thirty acres was the backyard of quite a few people, some of whom were dead set against it being developed. I was a member of the town’s planning board, so I saw that kind of thinking a lot. Theirs was a natural reaction, in fact, I’ve felt that way myself. But this was an extreme case of not in my back yard. Unhappy neighbors with an agenda to stop development is not a good thing for anyone. You can’t stop development if it is by the book, legal and allowable in the area, but it can surely be delayed and be very costly. So I had three major obstacles. No money, the guy wouldn’t budge on his price, and I knew the neighbors were going to fight me. Obstacles that may be enough to turn most people away and not get the rewards I ended up receiving. The first thing I did was go to the gentleman who owned the property. I said “I would love to buy your property”. His response was, “I can’t budge on the price”. I said I knew that and I was pre- pared to pay full price. The price of the property at that time was $180,000. He was excited about that. I said, you’ve had it for sale for almost two years and you still have no money in your pocket. Correct?” I continued, “How about we do this? I will give you $180,000—100 percent of your asking price.” He was excited. Then I said, “But here’s what I would like to present you in lieu of you getting full price. I would like to give you $90,000 now, and I want to give you $90,000 a year from now with no interest. You can hold the mortgage on the property, and if I sell any part of it, you get 50% of those proceeds until I am paid in full with you or the complete balance in one year whatever comes first. Does
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