Real Stories Behind Real Deals

Chriss Keaster wasn't looking to sell anything when a mailer landed in her hands — the kind that simply says a cash offer might be possible on a property that's seen better days. What she was carrying, though, went far beyond an old cabin. In the span of a couple of years, Chriss had lost her husband, her son, and her father. Her primary home was paid off and secure, but a family cabin up in Timber Lakes — one she partially owned alongside relatives — had quietly become something heavier than an inheritance. It sat there, slowly falling apart, with the people who'd always kept it up all gone.

When Dave met Chriss at the cabin about a week later, the extent of the neglect was plain to see. Heavy old wooden shutters hung loose from failing fasteners, and bats had moved into them. Stoats and pack rats had made themselves at home inside. The couch cushions and mattress pads had aged so far past their years that when picked up, the fabric and foam simply crumbled to dust in your hands. It was an A-frame cabin that had gone from a family gathering place to a structure nobody had the time, energy, or heart left to save.

Dave made Chriss and her family an offer, and she accepted. Rather than a simple lump-sum purchase, the deal was structured with care: the owners held the asset while Elevate Properties brought in investor funding, making monthly interest-only payments to the family throughout the renovation. Chriss and her relatives didn't have to front any repair costs or wait on a distant closing date to see value from the property — they were paid fairly for the whole partnership from day one.

What followed was a full season of work. All summer and deep into fall, the team made the hour-long drive up to Timber Lakes and back, rebuilding the A-frame from the studs out — new fasteners, a home cleared of the rodents and rot that had taken it over, and a full renovation that brought it back to something a family could be proud of again.

Chriss and her co-owners were paid a fair price for a property that, honestly, few buyers would have taken on. Elevate Properties held onto the cabin for five to six years afterward, letting the mountain real estate market settle and the renovation's value mature, before eventually selling it at a profit. For Chriss, it meant one less burden to carry during an already difficult chapter — and for the cabin, a second life.

It's a deal that worked both ways: Chriss and her family walked away with a fair, full price — no repair bills, no broker commissions, no back-and-forth over concessions, and no waiting on a buyer's financing to close. For the investors who funded the renovation, it meant turning an overlooked mountain property into a patient, well-earned return over the years that followed.

"Every property has a story. This one happened to be about grief, family, and letting go — and we were honored to help write its next chapter."

Lou Micallef and his late wife moved to St. George from Australia and, for years, owned a historic pioneer home in the heart of the city's historic district — the kind of house most people only ever get to walk past. It was his wife's dream to bring the old place back to life someday, room by room. Not long after they'd settled into that plan, she was diagnosed with cancer and passed away, leaving Lou to face the house, and the dream, entirely on his own.

Dave came into contact with Lou through a mutual acquaintance, and what he found was a home with real history behind it.

Historic Landmark

The Frederick Blake House

Recognized by the St. George Historic Preservation Commission, the home was built in the early 1870s by master carpenter Benjamin Frederick Blake for his son. Its walls are three adobe bricks thick, its fireplaces framed in original tile, with secret drawers built into the woodwork for valuables.

Lou had been carrying a home like that alone — fifteen years into paying down a mortgage on it, but without the capacity, financially or emotionally, to finish restoring it by himself. Rather than a simple purchase, Dave and Lou worked out a long-term creative-finance arrangement called an All-Inclusive Contract for Deed. In plain terms: Lou kept the underlying mortgage he'd already been paying down for fifteen years, and Dave set up private terms to buy the property and take over the deed around it. Lou kept making a monthly payment, but at a slightly higher interest rate than his own mortgage — so every month, once his mortgage and insurance were covered, he pocketed the difference as profit. In exchange, Dave took over the deed, the utilities, all repair and maintenance responsibility, and the right to bring in rental income on the property.

For the first two to three years, the home was rented to a group of college girls attending what was then Dixie State University (now Utah Tech). Dave later pooled some of his own funds with capital from a small group of investors to take the home through a full renovation, restoring it room by room while keeping its historic character intact. The renovated home was held as a rental for another couple of years before it sold, not long ago, at a profit.

Everyone came out ahead. Lou kept the mortgage he'd already invested fifteen years into, was relieved of a restoration he could no longer manage alone, and pocketed a monthly profit on top of his own payment for as long as the contract ran. The investors who helped fund the renovation earned a straightforward return on their capital while it was deployed. And Elevate Properties benefited from years of rental income plus the appreciation of a fully restored historic asset before its eventual sale.

"A home like this deserved more than to sit and wait. Structuring a deal that let everyone win — the seller, the investors, and the house itself — is exactly the kind of creative problem-solving this business was built on."