By Julie Gates, Team Leader, Team 912 (RE/MAX Accent) | Updated June 13, 2026
A real estate exit strategy is the part of the underwriting nobody shows you on a tour. A Vermont college campus bought cheap is now being given away — here is the discipline that would have prevented it.
A 115-acre college campus in Vermont just became one of the most expensive free things in America. The former Green Mountain College in Poultney sold at auction for under $5 million in 2020, and the buyer planned a destination resort: a 93-room hotel, condos, and a distillery. Five years later, after the plan died in the state’s permitting process, the owner is trying to give the property away — because the reported cost of simply holding it runs close to $1 million a year. That is what happens when an asset quietly turns into a liability, and it is the single risk most investors underwrite the least.
Key Takeaways
- A property’s purchase price tells you almost nothing about whether it’s a good deal. Carrying cost, liquidity, and exit options decide that.
- The Green Mountain College campus reportedly costs roughly $1 million a year to hold — close to a fifth of what it sold for — with no income covering it.
- “Cheap” and “unique” are the two words that most often precede a money pit. The narrower the future buyer pool, the higher your risk.
- Entitlement risk — the chance you can’t get permission to do what your business plan requires — can strand capital for years.
- Every investment property should have two to three viable exit strategies underwritten before you close, not after.
- Coastal Georgia is far more buildable than rural Vermont, but historic review, zoning, flood exposure, and STR rules still create real exit risk locally.
- Discipline on exits is what separates investors who survive downturns from those who get caught holding.
How a $5 Million Bargain Became a Property Nobody Wants
On paper, the campus looked like a steal. Sixteen buildings and 115 acres for under $5 million is a deep discount to replacement cost — the kind of number that makes an investor’s pulse jump. But the buyer’s entire return depended on one thing: getting permission to build the resort. The plan required clearance through Vermont’s statewide land-use review, the application stalled with an incomplete status, and it was ultimately withdrawn in 2025. No approval meant no resort.
Meanwhile, the buildings kept costing money. Dormitories, classrooms, and a dining hall are purpose-built for a use that no longer exists, and empty buildings still demand taxes, insurance, maintenance, security, and utilities. The reported carry is roughly $1 million a year against an asset producing nothing. No approval meant no resort, no resort meant no income, and no income against a seven-figure annual nut is a bleed that compounds. The owner’s current move — trying to donate the campus to a nonprofit — is itself an exit strategy. It’s just the worst one on the menu: give the asset away to stop the bleeding.
Bought for under $5 million. Costs roughly $1 million a year to hold. That’s about a fifth of the purchase price, every year, with nothing coming in.
“Cheap” and “Unique” Are Where Capital Goes to Die
A low price relative to replacement cost feels like a margin of safety. It isn’t — not if you can’t get out. Two forces quietly turn a discount into a trap.
Thin buyer pools
A three-bed, two-bath house in a working neighborhood has thousands of potential buyers. A former college campus has maybe a handful of nonprofits, developers, or institutions on the entire continent. The narrower the pool, the longer the hold and the deeper the discount you’ll eventually accept to move it. Liquidity is a feature you pay for; illiquidity is a cost you pay later, usually at the worst possible time.
Single-use building stock
Specialty buildings — campuses, churches, theaters, single-tenant industrial — are expensive to convert and often functionally obsolete the day their original use ends. You’re not buying a flexible asset; you’re buying someone else’s solved problem that has just become your unsolved one. The math that matters isn’t the price. It’s the price plus carrying cost, multiplied by the number of years until you can realistically exit. Run that on a unique property and the “bargain” usually evaporates.
The Real Estate Exit Strategy That Would Have Prevented This
An exit strategy is not a hope. It’s a specific, numbers-backed path to get your capital back out, with a buyer pool or income source identified before you sign. Experienced investors carry a primary exit and at least one or two backups, each underwritten on its own:
- Resale to a defined buyer pool at comps the market will actually support.
- Hold and rent at a number that covers debt service, taxes, insurance, and reserves with real positive cash flow.
- Refinance to pull capital back out once the asset is stabilized.
- Wholesale or assign the contract if you can’t or shouldn’t close.
- Change of use — but only when the entitlement path is confirmed, never assumed.
- Owner-financed sale to widen a thin buyer pool when conventional buyers are scarce.
The rule is simple: if your only exit depends on a permission you don’t yet have, you don’t have an exit. The campus buyer had essentially one path — rezone, build, operate or sell — and the whole thing was gated behind a permit. When the permit died, every exit died with it.
If your only exit depends on a permission you don’t yet have, you don’t have an exit. You have a bet.
What This Means for Savannah and Chatham County
Georgia is a far friendlier environment than Vermont — no statewide land-use review, generally faster local approvals, and a state that broadly favors development. But coastal Georgia has its own version of every risk in this story, and experienced local investors respect each one.
- Historic review. Inside Savannah’s Historic and Landmark Districts, the Historic Review Board governs what you can change. A value-add plan that assumes exterior changes can stall for months — or get denied outright.
- Single-use oddities. The coast has its own supply of specialty properties that look like deals: former churches, old schoolhouses, oversized estate homes, single-tenant commercial on Abercorn. Thin buyer pools, same as Poultney, just smaller dollar amounts.
- Short-term-rental regulation. The 2024–2025 STR consolidation reset the math on an entire category of properties. Investors who bought on STR pro formas and then lost the permit pathway learned the exit-strategy lesson the expensive way.
- Flood and insurance. On the coast, flood zones and rising premiums are a carrying-cost story. A building that’s hard to insure is hard to sell — another exit quietly narrowing.
The discipline is identical. In Savannah the deals are smaller and the buyer pools deeper than a Vermont campus, but the thing that wrecked that deal — one fragile exit and a carrying cost that never sleeps — is exactly what catches local investors who chase a discount without first mapping the way out.
What Experienced Investors Should Do
- Underwrite the hold cost first. Before the price seduces you, calculate annual taxes, insurance, maintenance, utilities, and debt service on the empty asset — then ask how many years of that you can absorb.
- Map two to three exits in writing. Primary plus at least one backup, each with an identified buyer pool or income source and supportable numbers. No exit gets credit unless it pencils.
- Stress-test the entitlement path. If your plan needs a rezoning, variance, historic approval, or STR permit, treat it as not yet granted. Price the deal as if you can only do what’s already allowed by right.
- Size the buyer pool honestly. Count who realistically buys this at exit. If the answer is “a handful of specialists,” demand a far steeper discount — or pass.
- Match your horizon to the asset’s liquidity. Odd properties take longer to sell. Make sure your capital and your patience can survive the actual marketing timeline, not the hoped-for one.
- Fund a reserve for the carry. The bleed is what kills these deals. Set aside enough to hold through a realistic worst-case timeline before you close — not after the problem shows up.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a real estate exit strategy?
It’s a specific, numbers-backed plan for converting an investment property back into cash — by selling, renting, refinancing, or changing its use. A real exit strategy names the buyer pool or income source and shows the math. A vague intention to sell later is not a strategy.
How many exit strategies should an investor have before buying?
Two to three viable exits, underwritten before closing: a primary plan plus one or two backups that still return your capital if the primary fails. Relying on a single exit — especially one gated behind a permit you don’t yet have — is the most common way investors get stranded.
Why do cheap, unusual properties carry more risk?
Because the discount usually reflects a problem: a narrow buyer pool, single-use buildings, or an entitlement hurdle. The fewer people who can buy or use the property, the longer and more expensive your hold, and the deeper the discount you’ll eventually accept to get out.
What is entitlement risk?
Entitlement risk is the chance you can’t get government permission — rezoning, a variance, a permit, historic approval — to do what your business plan requires. If your returns depend on a use that isn’t yet approved, that approval is a risk, not a given.
Is Savannah a safer market for unusual properties than rural areas?
Georgia generally permits more easily than states with statewide land-use review, and Savannah has deeper buyer pools than a remote campus. But historic review, zoning, flood and insurance costs, and short-term-rental rules still create real exit risk. The same discipline applies; the dollar amounts are just smaller.
How do I figure out a property’s carrying cost?
Add up annual property taxes, insurance, maintenance, utilities, security, and debt service for the property sitting empty. That number is what you bleed every year until you exit. Divide it by the purchase price to see how fast holding costs erode your margin.
What’s the worst exit strategy?
Giving the asset away to stop the losses — which is exactly where the Vermont campus owner ended up. A donation or deeply discounted fire sale is sometimes the only way to halt a seven-figure annual carry, but it’s the outcome disciplined underwriting exists to prevent.
The Way Out Is the Whole Game
The Vermont campus is an extreme example of an ordinary mistake: buying on price and a single, permission-dependent exit. The fix is unglamorous and it works — underwrite the carry, map two to three real exits, and treat every approval as unearned until it’s in hand. If you’re looking at a Savannah or Chatham County deal and want a second set of eyes on whether the exits actually pencil before you commit capital, that’s the analysis Team 912 runs on every property. Bring us the deal at team912.com and we’ll pressure-test the way out — before you’re the one trying to give it away.
Related Team 912 Investor Guides
- Flood Insurance in Savannah: What Investors Need to Know
- Savannah Investor Resources Hub
- Savannah Population Growth 2015–2025: The Investor Lens
- Why Savannah’s Population Growth Is a Golden Opportunity for Real Estate Investors
About the Author
Julie Gates is a licensed RE/MAX broker in Savannah, GA and team leader of Team 912, an investor-focused real estate team operating under RE/MAX Accent. She has been investing in the Savannah real estate market since 2004 — through the 2008 financial crisis, COVID-era dislocation, and the 2024–2025 short-term rental consolidation. Julie is the published author of The 30-Day Stay (BiggerPockets, 2023) and a contributor to Forbes Business. She founded Sid Was Here, a Savannah-based property management company, and hosts the Cashflow Savannah monthly investor meetup and podcast.
Contact: julie@team912.com | (912) 600-2893 | team912.com
Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes and is not legal, tax, or investment advice. Real estate involves risk, and entitlement, zoning, and tax rules vary by jurisdiction. Consult your own attorney, CPA, and qualified advisors before making any investment decision.
