When you go to buy even the littlest thing, there's this thing called due diligence.

Unfortunately, even though it says in the contract something about "willing seller and willing buyer," often the buyer has a REAL reason to get out, and the buyer has that innate "hunt and gather" hormone coursing through their veins, and the two cause the both to go into things very blind.

It's pretty easy to say that one should never assume that a contract, license, permit, insurance policy, warranty, utility account, employee, rental agreement, land use, paint on the siding, customers, or even friends, will transfer from the buyer to the seller.

Add to that, alcoholism and drug abuse (illicit and prescription), and a lot of buyers are simply better off just looking for a way to start their own project from scratch.