Wholesaling a property underwater

[Rich Hupper]

Hello Biggerpockets,

I am sure this is dumb question but I have to ask if it would ever make sense or be possible to assignment wholesale a property that has negative equity.

If no, what is possible?

I was thinking short sale or subject 2.

[JD Martin]

Anything makes sense if you can figure out who's willing to take the haircut or make up the difference. If a house has a $100k note and is worth $80k present condition, but maybe $120 after rehab, you are going to have to either find someone willing to work on a really small profit margin, have the lender accept a bigger haircut, or have the current owner fund some/all of the shortfall. In any of those cases, it really makes little difference from your end so long as there's a profit spread - but there's the rub, in that there are so many pieces that have to fit together and there's already no existing equity, that you could do a lot of work for no money if it falls apart in the end.