Boulder Creek, CA 5-plex owner finance

[Eric Dowling]

I am trying to figure out if I want to approach my mother and her 3 siblings about owner financing a 5-unit they inherited in Boulder Creek, CA. So they inherited this property free and clear back in 2009 and instead of selling in a down market they fixed it up and rented it out. They are all retired and live in Montana and none of them want to be landlords, but they love getting those checks in the mail every month. It is hard to fix anything because 2 of them see no benefit in putting money into the property. (They live off this income almost exclusively). I see deferred maintenance in the future. I believe a big plus for them in owner financing is deferring the capital gains, and still getting those monthly checks, but there are cons for them too like not getting a fat check and still owning something with 3 other people. Are there other pros and cons? The whole idea behind selling would be so in the future their kids don't have to now figure out what to do with this property in California(there would be even more people involved at that point). Is owner financing even a good estate planning tool by getting out of the property, but still holding the note? What would you do? Stay out and have them sell it? Try to structure a owner finance? Is there a win-win scenario in here somewhere?