All Forum Posts by: Christopher Phillips

You can't. Like you said, you would need to be a business.

Best you can do is try and use a collection company to go after the tenant and they can report the collection amount on your behalf.

@Jay Patel.

That is what Chase is offer based on looking at Nerdwallet for investment loans.

 You should really sit down with a lawyer. The rental laws just changed and you don't want to have any headaches later because you used a boilerplate lease agreement.

@Christopher Davis

Seller financing is common with commercial or 1-4 unit rental properties. It purely depends on the owner's strategy for unwinding their investments and what they are looking to do going forward like spreading out the pain of capital gains vs. needing the funds for other investments. Owners lose the depreciation tax benefits after a certain period of time, so they are often looking to get out of properties and into other ones.

To see if they are willing to entertain doing a seller financed deal you just have to ask.

@Brian Mackey

Welcome to Bigger Pockets...

Seller financing is usually with a balloon payment in either 5 or 10 years. Sometimes longer. Amortized as if 30 years. The whole point for the seller is to spread out the capital gains while still getting some cashflow.

Most seller financing is 6% plus. 2-4% barely beats inflation.

Most sellers will want skin in the game. Trying to get in there with little to no downpayment isn't a strong offer if the place has positive cashflow. Given the person's age, they'll likely want $50k to $100k down.

At the end of the day, offer what you can offer. The seller will respond with what they want.

Landlord experience means that you can show revenue earned on your tax returns, not managing tenants. If you don't have rental income in the past, you can't show experience.

No. There isn't a way to search for multi-family using Zillow. They don't filter for # of units.

@Michael McMinassian

You should speak with a lawyer.

Too many ways the partnership can turn sour.

@Jason Switherspoon

You'll have to speak with a tax professional. 

In general, the person giving the gift will have to pay taxes.

Also, it's a small difference, but buying at the lower price reduces your cost basis, which may have implications for capital gains down the road if you decide to sell.

However, the difference is relatively small. Unless you are clearly stating that it's a gift of equity, the value of the house is the value the owner is willing to sell it for.

Was this an actual appraisal from a licensed appraiser, like for a refinance? Or was it something a local agent sent her in the mail? How long ago was it?