They zig you zag. Never give up!!

Hello every one. Well just to get started I will outline a deal we just finished. I welcome comments and advice on stream lining this process. We (Cindy and I) live in Red Bluff, a small town in Northern CA near Redding and Chico. We have three flips and eight rentals to date. The latest was an attempt to do an assignment.
We found a 3/2 home in an ok neighborhood with a pool. It was listed for 82k. It was an REO. We made an offer of 68,500. The agent came back with highest and best. We declined. A week later we called the listing agent and she said it was still on the market but now the price was 69k. Wow what happened there? I decided to take a closer look at the property. What I found was the pool was in such bad shape that it would probably have to be eliminated. We included a letter to the listing agent to that effect and the cost of the job and made a new offer of 50k. The bank countered with 59k. We countered with 51,650. The bank accepted. The lesson here is never give up. During our inspection period a friend and fellow investor stopped by and as we talked he mentioned that he had offered 55k on this property some months back. I said I would assign it to him for that he said "Great! Lets do it" After a week of trying to do an assignment with no cooperation what-so-ever from the listing agent or the asset manager we decided to go a different way. My friends lender funded the purchase in my name and at closing my friend assumed the note. After this we just went to the recorders office and transferred the deed to his name. Sounds easy but what a process it was...But at least it got done.
Any comments or advice on how to convince the people involved in this deal to do an assignment would be greatly appreciated.

If you are near me and reading this, lets talk..

Dave and Cindy
Dave Bruton Construction