He didn't have enough money to buy the condo outright, and though he had a down payment, his status as a bankrupt three years ago, as the new owner of a pizza franchise and hobby as a carpenter didn't look good enough to the bank.  His wife was staying home with their two-year old: and that gap in income from this former schoolteacher was going to make things difficult. 

How were Yvonne and Ken, the realtors, going to make this deal work? 

The seller wasn't going to discount the condo, just to get him to buy: at $725,000 they thought it was a reasonable price.  Their equity was about $450,000. They wanted to get the condo sold.   They wanted to retire to a smaller condo in Scottsdale.

What could Yvonne and Ken do?  No sale, no commission, and re-listing would only mean that the price would be expected to go down right now, and the Seller would have none of that.  That $43,500 commission would be $22,000 to them, because the buyer didn't have a realtor - they'd come in from an open house.  The market was going down, and the price would have to be lower to meet the market anyway.  Yvonne and Ken had to make this deal work.

They called me.  I learned that the buyer wasn't intimidated by the fixer-upper nature of the condo: it was older, but he felt handy with tools.  I learned that his new pizza franchise had been profitable for the last three quarters, and he was proud of that.  He really wanted the condo: it was in a good school district, and he felt happy at the thought of being there for his kid.  When I told him I wanted a 10% down payment, he said that the pizza franchisor would help get him to the 72,500 needed.

The seller was adamant about the price, as Yvonne and Ken had warned me.  They wanted that place in Arizona.  So I talked to her about offering Temporary Seller Financing, suggesting that this would avoid the problems of a falling real estate market here.  The Seller wanted cash to put into their retirement condo, and we talked about that.  I said I could arrange a way for them to expect a total of $466,750 out of the sale, some up front, some as part of a payment in five years, sending them over to Scottsdale with $326,750 up front to buy the condo they wanted and get their furniture moved.  In other words, they expect to get more than the purchase price, they'd have the cash they needed in Scottsdale, and they should get a bonus in five years, provided that their buyer went through with the deal.  I spelled out the deal in a letter to Yvonne and Ken, with separate letters to the Seller and the Buyer setting out what was involved on their part.

The sale went through.  The Seller will receive the money she wanted for her house.  The Buyer will get five years to repair his credit, get the pizza franchise off the starting blocks, and get a new loan.  Yvonne and Ken will get paid their commission, and their office will get paid, too.

A win for everybody?  Looks like it to me.