Seller Financing for free and clear property

Seller Financing for free and clear property

Milwaukee, WI · Member since 2017 · 138 posts · 69 votes

Hi All - I have a couple rental properties but am humbly looking for advice on a scenario I haven't experienced before.

The owner of a duplex (2BR 1BA/1BR 1BA) next door to a duplex I own is 63yo, has had some back and knee surgeries and is experiencing a vacancy in the in the 2 BR unit for the first time in 15 years (and the tenant, who I knew took excellent care of the property and he was very passive).  I believe he was exploring selling before covid and his vacancy but the vacancy is increasing his interest in selling.  He owns the property free and clear and is entering his 28th year of opening so can no longer take advantage of depreciation.

I've read a bit about seller financing including this piece:https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

However, in this scenario, I'm not looking to take over a mortgage.  The seller mentioned he had another property but doesn't want to sell them both at the same time because he doesn't want to get crushed on capital gains taxes.

I'm looking for ideas of how to structure an offer to him that helps him while investing as little of my own capital up front as possible (maybe only rehab ~20k).  My initial thought is to structure something where I'd make him monthly payments of P+I for 3-5 years and then agree to refinance and pay off the balance - but have no idea what an appropriate split would be.  

As I said, the property needs about 20k in rehab, he told me a local realtor who I'm familiar with told him ARV would be ~230k. Zillow estimate is 245k and he's looking for 190k as is. Gross rents (pre-vacancy) were 1450, I believe market rents to be 1650 or a bit more. The property is in a suburb of Milwaukee (Wauwatosa) which has very strong schools and is an A/B area.

Any thoughts on how to structure something would be very much appreciated.

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  • Rental Property Investor · Minneapolis, MN · Member since 2020 · 540 posts · 285 votes
    6y

    @Pete Woelfel

    Ask him to seller finance at $230k over 15 years, it’s $1275/month, you would still cash flow a bit and pay 0 interest. In 10 years if he has a personal situation and needs to be cashed out then you’ll have 65% equity and can take a small loan for the balance.

  • Investor · Milwaukee - Mequon, WI · Member since 2010 · 5k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    6y

    @Pete Woelfel anything goes, as long as you both like it. Give him a few ideas and ask him which direction he likes better. You don't have to follow a traditional P+I schedule. You could do interest only for 5 years. Or a certain dollar amount, for example $500 a month. But don't be afraid to suggest a full amortization plan either. The key to structure it correctly is to understand what the seller is looking for. And its perfectly okay to kick around different ideas with him and see what direction he likes.

    I have read a long time ago in a book from the 80's about seller financing that the author would approach his seller's who were holding a note after a few years and offer an early pay off. He'd suggest that he came to cash, not the full amount owed, but a large portion of it and would be willing to settle with a lump sum payment, which people would take more often than not! If you want to text me the address I'll run an RPR to give your fair market value.

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