It was a cold February Monday afternoon when I received a call from a Martin's Landing resident having caught word of a neighbor's "Off-Market" record breaking deal by Martin Lake Group.  In just over a week from that conversation, Martin Lake Group placed the caller's property "Under Contract" in what would be another record setting deal set to close in just 10 days of binding (seriously, just 10 days from the date both parties agreed on the deal) "as-is" with the exception of an unconforming barn in the middle of the backyard. This deal was contingent upon making a 4000# 14x10 barn disappear. 

 With the owner out of town, I took on the coordination of  removing the Parkside Barn.  Amongst rapid inflation and a retail price of over $5K, getting rid of the barn would be a breeze, right?  I knew better than that, or at least should have known better.  Moving it all intact would require temporary removal of a large sections of a privacy fence amongst other obstacles in the way of getting the right size rig back there to winch it up and out.  Determined not to make the removal of the barn an extra cost to my client, with the hope of putting even a little more money in their pocket, I set out to find the right buyer for the barn.  In just over an hour, I found over 50 blowing up my inbox expressing their desperation to have a $5K barn for a fraction of the cost, but few having half an understanding as to what safely moving it intact would require. Barns just levitate themselves up and out, right? 

Weeding through all the excited takers, I found a knowing fella who was ready to pay us $800 in addition to him hiring a professional transport company.  Long story short, it came down to  just 1 day prior to closing when the transport company failed to meet our schedule, leaving the home sale up in the air.  In all fairness, the buyer was not closing until it was demonstrated that the the barn was being removed. 

With no luck in finding another transport, the thought of this perfectly good and highly desired barn being trashed was painful, but it was my primary duty to get the home sale deal done and done on time.  With little time to bring in a roll-off  and have the barn physically dismantled by the next morning, in just the nick of time, I found a couple almost 2 hours away that really wanted to seize the oppurtunity of a free barn.  But could they come through with  less than 12 hours of remaining daylight?  They convinced me that they could and they did it, just barely! 

Not the way I initially foresaw, but the barn was removed with the property closing right on time for the highest ever sale in the history of Parkside at that date in time.  A unique but satisfying Prep-to-Close without cost, waste or delay!