Business/Finance: THE VETERAN WHO CAME HOME TO DIE

We advertised everywhere we could think of. Some advertisements
ended up in the Nellis Air Force Base newspaper. A retired
enlisted man we’ll call Mr. Ellette had terminal cancer. The cancer
center in Las Vegas was closing, so Ellette was moving to California.
He needed someone to take over his house payments.
After some discussions with Mr. Ellette and his wife, we paid
$5,000 and agreed to take over the monthly payments on his
$180,000 mortgage (there was no equity in the house). It was a
new home on a street called Dusty View, but in a bad area. Adjacent
streets were rundown, and the nearest grocery store
taught a big lesson.

“Always go to the grocery store where people will have to
shop,” Gene said. “It will give you a sense of the demographics.
If it’s a scary place, that’s going to tell you a lot right there. . . . I
did the deal and then went to the grocery store. And it was like,
Oh my God, this is way too scary.” It was definitely the wrong
side of town.
The Ellettes moved to California, and a rotund and devout
couple rented the Dusty View house. We desperately wanted to
help them. They wanted to buy a lease-option, but had trouble
coming up with the option fee. We worked out an agreement
with them that they would rent it from us, and when they were
able to come up with the $5,000 option fee, we would start the
clock and run the option to buy.