I liked the property. I still would've passed.
I was researching a small acreage deal for someone recently and ended up in kind of a weird spot.
The more I looked into it, the more I liked the property itself.
Paved road frontage.
Utilities nearby.
Buildable.
Good area.
Outside the floodplain.
Usually that's when I start feeling better about a deal.
Instead I ended up liking it less.
Not because of anything on the property, but because of the seller.
Turns out the seller had bought a much larger tract and was actively splitting it up into smaller lots. The buyer's plan was to purchase one of those lots and flip it later.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized they'd eventually be competing against the same developer they bought it from. The developer still had inventory and could sell comparable lots right next door.
It got me thinking about how much time we spend looking at the dirt itself versus looking at the people involved in the deal.
Have any of you passed on a property that you actually liked because the business side of the deal didn't make sense?