I have a friend who's a realtor who told me the story of a local homeless man in our town. "Toonie for some soup" he would ask people (I live in Canada, a Toonie is a $2.00 coin). He was always polite, and made regular appearances all around town for years.

One day this homeless guy came to visit my realtor friend. "I'd like to buy a house" he said. After years of asking for Toonies, he managed to amass $84,000.00

My friend sold him a mobile home just outside of town.