One Man’s Misfortune Is Another Man’s Opportunity

If you were offered a deal that sounded as though it was unbeatable, and it turned out that there was no risk involved for you, you’d surely take it, wouldn’t you? Most of us, if not all, would. But then throw this variable into the equation: You can only have this deal by taking advantage of the fact that a couple with three children are divorcing after one of the parents lost their job. They will sell for just over half of what they paid for the property because the bottom fell out of the market and the repayments are crippling them.

How do you feel now? Still thinking of popping open a bottle of champagne and toasting your good fortune? Well, you may well be. The fact is that there will always be misfortune in this world, and if you feel that it is excessively unkind to profit from someone else’s misfortune then there will be countless other people out there who are not at all bothered about taking that step. Obviously you would be well advised not to celebrate your good fortune in front of the family who are losing their home, but they need to sell it, and you will not be helping them by opting out of the decision.

This is how many people make their first step on the real estate ladder. Equally, others will buy houses from seized-property auctions without considering that the work that went into those homes may have been funded by drug dealing, and buying from a repossession auction is also a way of profiting from another’s misfortune if you wish to take that view of things. It’s all relative, and you are not the bad guy