Three frogs were sitting on a log. If two decided to jump into the pond, how many are left? Correct answer: three. The two only decided to jump. A decision is not action
A while back, I used to go on long runs the late afternoon that would take me through many different neighborhoods. One of my routes took me down a long hill in an upscale part of Fullerton, California. I enjoyed this route in particular as it went by a house that appeared vacant and this captured my interest.
I brought this house the attention of a friend who knew the area, a local real estate broker, who had been in real estate since the 1950’s!
He told me the history of the house, built in 1948 for the founder of Fullerton Savings and Loan (now Opus Bank).
A little researched door knocking neighbors’ homes provided a back story that the owner’s Son had died a tragic death and she had since died, too. Looking through the window revealed intact furniture just like someone lived there. A little more research and I discovered a Daughter living in a neighboring town.
I showed the house to another friend, a developer. Since the property sat on almost 2 acres, we debated the possibility of splitting the lot into 2-4 smaller lots and spec building the new lots while renovating the front house. He made a trip to the City Planning dept. for me and spoke to his connections in that office. Sure enough, splitting the lots would be not only possible but very profitable.
Meanwhile, I fiddled around and talked a lot about this property and the situation. I Penciled it out one way and then another. It looked like a winner. I imagined myself about a million dollars richer.
A title search revealed that the property was held in a trust and the defaulted property taxes were still outstanding. The trust transfer deed showed the Daughter’s address in Ontario, CA.
So, while I fiddle farted around for several months, I thought about maybe writing or calling the Daughter. Deciding to run one more title report, I was astonished that there was now a deed from the Daughter as successor trustee to a new owner. The total purchase price was $220,000 and a seller carry-back trust deed was recorded for $200,000. This means that the buyer put $20,000 down and the seller (the trust) carried a note for the balance.
I ran by that property many more times and saw the progression as the new buyer completed renovation of the original house and built another three large custom spec homes. The final retail resale price totaled over $2.7 Million. Nice payday.
Oh, by the way, the buyer was the attorney who drafted the trust!
The moral of the story: a decision is not action.
