Les Schwab Tire Center

This was a pretty rare deal for me because it didn't start with me making a cold call like usual. This time, the property was actually on the market from the beginning. When I saw it, I thought it would make an excellent spot for a gas station. But when I called the agent, I discovered it had already been spoken about. But not all deals like this go through, so I watched it. I'd check in every month, but it always seemed like it was still under contract and moving forward. I wanted to know why it was falling apart, so I asked around. Nobody seemed to have the details. I planned to buy and lease the land to Murphy USA, a gas station chain. Maybe the people who dropped the deal before were working with Murphy. So, I called a friend who worked with Murphy, not telling him what I was up to, and asked about their interest in the area. Turns out, they were interested. That was all I needed to hear to move forward. I quickly got the property under contract and sent a proposal to Murphy. But then we hit a snag: there were some rules about what could be built on the land, and they were pretty strict. To make matters worse, some extra land nearby owned by the Department of Transportation would be perfect for us. After some negotiations, I also managed to snag that land, which made our site even better. While I was sorting all this out, Murphy seemed relaxed about the rules from the nearby Walmart. I was worried because I had already put a lot of money into this deal, and Murphy still had not progressed with Walmart. Eventually, they sent their plans over, but Walmart said no to the changes Murphy wanted. With those changes, our deal was alive in the water. By this point, I was running out of time on my contract to buy the land, and Murphy told me they were backing out of the deal. I was in a tight spot. But then I had an idea: Les Schwab Tires might be interested. I called them up, and they were on board, but only if we could sort out the issues with Walmart. I convinced Walmart to make the changes Les Schwab needed, and they did it super quickly, which was a relief. But then the seller's agent told me I needed to pay more money to keep the deal. I wasn't having it. I reminded him that I had control over some extra land from the Department of Transportation, which would make the property much more valuable. After that, he was willing to give me more time without charging extra. With that sorted, we had no more problems getting the lease done and building the store. It opened recently, and it's been a big success.