Just read an amusing article. Marcus Licinius Crassus is probably best known for his defeat of the slave revolt of Spartacus. However, he was also the richest man in Rome in the last days of the Republic. Much of his wealth consisted of real estate.
He was very imaginative in his sharp business practices. He is reputed to have organized the world's first fire department. During the period of the Republic much of Rome was constructed of wood. It had the world's largest population for the time much of which lived in poverty. The living conditions were squalid, and fires were commonplace.
Crassus would proceed to the scene of the fire with his fire dept, and begin to negotiate the purchase of the property while the building was burning.
His offer of the purchase price would continue to drop the longer the building burned. When the property owner agreed to the purchase price, Crassus would extinguish the fire.
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