From a €620K Asking Price to a $424K All-In Acquisition

One asset, three prices, forty-nine days

The same building carried three different prices in the space of a month: the agent's, the owner's, and the bank's. The work was finding out which one was real, and then being in the right place when it changed hands.

Where $292,000 of the asking price went

Three steps took the price from €620,000 to $424,000 all-in. None of them was a discount for the sake of a discount. Each one came from a fact about the seller, the lender, or the tax code.

Currency: the purchase, the refund, our fee and the appraisal were all in US dollars. Only the asking price was in euros. Converted at the ECB reference rate on 25 November 2025, 1 EUR = 1.1551 USD, the day the presentation arrived.

Forty-nine days, in order

Every date below is from our records or from the Public Registry. The bank and the previous owner are not named, and neither is the investor.

1. 22 Oct 2025Okrokana, Tbilisi

   It started with a rental, not a hotel

   The investor asked us to rent out his apartment in Okrokana: 75 m² with a 25 m² balcony. We ran five showings between 25 October and 14 November and signed a tenant on 21 November. Thirty days, one good tenant, no drama. That is where the trust for everything that followed came from.

2. 25 Nov 2025Four days after his tenant moved in

   The presentation arrives

   The investor sent us a presentation he had received from an agent: a 10-room hotel in Bakuriani, asking €620,000. He wanted one thing from us: is this real, and is this the price?

3. Late Nov to early DecDue diligence

   Two facts the listing did not mention

   We traced the ownership and spoke to the owner directly. First: the owner's own price was $480,000, about a third below the agent's number. Second: the owner was in a foreclosure process with the bank that held the mortgage. The listing was an intermediary's price on an asset that was about to change hands.

   We told the investor not to make any offer at €620,000 and suggested seeing the building and meeting the owner in person.
4. 18 Dec 2025Bakuriani

   The bank got there fifteen minutes before us

   When we arrived, the bank's seizure notices were on the doors. The repossession had happened that morning. The building now belonged to the bank, and there was no owner left to negotiate with. Nino called the bank's recovery team from the car park. They had left fifteen minutes earlier. They turned around and came back the same afternoon, and the negotiation started in front of the building.

   This is the moment the case study turns on. We say more about how much of it was luck below.
5. 25 Dec 2025Christmas Day, Tbilisi

   Closing at the bank's head office

   One week later we met at the bank's head office and closed. Price: $480,000, with VAT included in the bank's sale. A VAT-registered buyer can reclaim that VAT. That was the next job.

6. Dec 2025 to Jan 2026Structuring

   $80,000 of VAT comes back in cash

   Tbilisi Home brought in lawyers and accountants. The investor registered as a VAT payer, set up the company that will operate the hotel, and filed for the refund. The refund of $80,000 was paid in cash. Net purchase price: $400,000.

7. 13 Jan 2026Public Registry

   Title registered, clean

   The Public Registry recorded the investor as owner. No mortgage, no tax lien, no restrictions, no obligations. Forty-nine days after the presentation arrived.

8. 1 Jul 2026Independent appraisal

   $744,000 market value, $558,000 liquidation value

   An independent licensed valuation firm inspected the property and valued the asset as acquired. Renovation work the investor has carried out since closing is separate and is not included in either figure, or in the $424,000.

9. Dec 2026Planned

   Opening under new ownership

   The hotel is scheduled to open under its new ownership in December 2026, in time for the ski season.

Three facts, not three discounts

Nobody talked the price down. Each step came from a fact about who was selling, why they were selling, and how the tax code treats the buyer.

What the 5% paid for

The investor paid us $24,000. Here is what he got for it.

• Verified the ownership and found the real price behind the listing
• Travelled to Bakuriani and inspected the building in person
• Reached the bank's recovery team the same day and opened the negotiation
• Negotiated the price and terms directly with the bank
• Coordinated lawyers and accountants for the VAT registration, the operating company and the refund
• Managed the closing at the bank and the registration of title at the Public Registry

Three documents behind the numbers

We reviewed the originals. Names, identification numbers, the cadastral code and photographs are withheld to protect the client. What remains is enough to check every figure on this page.

The appraisal's three comparables are hotel listings in Bakuriani at asking prices of $400,000 to $1,000,000, adjusted by the appraiser to $474 to $513 per m². They are asking prices, not closed sales. We say so again in the risks below.

What was luck, and what was process

A case study that pretends everything was skill is not worth reading. Here is the split.

What this page does not claim

The numbers are real. Here is where they stop.