Madeline
Rookie
- Banned
- #1
Please note: My apologies if this is in the wrong Forum. I didn't see one for General Finance questions.
A land contract works like this: you and I agree I will buy your property (real estate). I make payments to you monthly for, say, 20 years. At the conclusion of the payment period, I get title to the property...not before. (There are certain legal protections for people who have paid on a land contract for many years and then make a late payment, etc. The law will eventually recognize and protect some degree of rights in the buyer even though title has not passed.)
A private mortgage is done very similarly to a commercial mortgage. We agree on the terms, including any down payment and closing costs, and I buy the property at a closing now. However, there is no bank, because you, the seller, hold the mortgage. In this situation the seller would have to foreclose to get the property back if the buyer failed to pay, and the buyer could take tax deductions, etc. for his mortgage interest expense. (In general...the actual application of the law to a specific set of facts would have to be sifted over to determine.)
In a healthy real estate market, there are no sellers willing to do a deal involving either a land contract or a private mortgage. Who wants 20 years of worry and business from a deal that can be closed today? The commercial mortgage, or "three way deal" is far superior for the seller.
But this is not a healthy real estate market. As people inherit property in Cleveland and its surrounding area, some owners with 100% equity in their homes might welcome a buyer who wanted to buy using private financing because it at least gets them SOMETHING from the house, and alleviates their burdens to pay taxes, maintenance, etc. (I doubt any seller whose property is encumbered by a commercial mortgage has the legal right to do a sale on private financing, but to be honest, I'm not certain.)
For the buyer, SOME closing costs would be avoided. I think it'd be best to go ahead and buy title insurance in every case. But you would not have to have a home inspection (though you might want one), the seller would not have to make repairs just because the mortgage lender required them (e.g., you cannot sell a home with pealing exterior paint to anyone buying with a Fannie Mae mortgage.)
Buyers with sub-par credit ratings could buy. Credit worthiness and credit scores are not as inextricably linked as commercial banks would have us all believe. If the seller could find a sufficient degree of comfort that the buyer would be able and willing to pay, it might be rational and reasonable for him to sell -- as that buyer is the only game in town.
There are dozens of empty properties in my neighborhood and the adjoining suburbs. These are cute little homes I bet I'd like owning, and there'd be no real up-tick in my expenses...I pay virtually all the costs of maintenance on my townhome now. It is even possible, though I have not looked, that the ginormous tax breaks for home buyers would be available on a home sale involving private financing.
My question is, does this seem workable? And if so, how do I find the potential sellers here? I have pondered on this for a few months, and it seems a bit aggressive to me -- but still possible. Am I being fanciful, or could this sort of deal happen? I know these sorts of deals occurred during the Recession of the 1970's, but I didn't know the details of any of them at the time.
What say you?
_________________
A land contract works like this: you and I agree I will buy your property (real estate). I make payments to you monthly for, say, 20 years. At the conclusion of the payment period, I get title to the property...not before. (There are certain legal protections for people who have paid on a land contract for many years and then make a late payment, etc. The law will eventually recognize and protect some degree of rights in the buyer even though title has not passed.)
A private mortgage is done very similarly to a commercial mortgage. We agree on the terms, including any down payment and closing costs, and I buy the property at a closing now. However, there is no bank, because you, the seller, hold the mortgage. In this situation the seller would have to foreclose to get the property back if the buyer failed to pay, and the buyer could take tax deductions, etc. for his mortgage interest expense. (In general...the actual application of the law to a specific set of facts would have to be sifted over to determine.)
In a healthy real estate market, there are no sellers willing to do a deal involving either a land contract or a private mortgage. Who wants 20 years of worry and business from a deal that can be closed today? The commercial mortgage, or "three way deal" is far superior for the seller.
But this is not a healthy real estate market. As people inherit property in Cleveland and its surrounding area, some owners with 100% equity in their homes might welcome a buyer who wanted to buy using private financing because it at least gets them SOMETHING from the house, and alleviates their burdens to pay taxes, maintenance, etc. (I doubt any seller whose property is encumbered by a commercial mortgage has the legal right to do a sale on private financing, but to be honest, I'm not certain.)
For the buyer, SOME closing costs would be avoided. I think it'd be best to go ahead and buy title insurance in every case. But you would not have to have a home inspection (though you might want one), the seller would not have to make repairs just because the mortgage lender required them (e.g., you cannot sell a home with pealing exterior paint to anyone buying with a Fannie Mae mortgage.)
Buyers with sub-par credit ratings could buy. Credit worthiness and credit scores are not as inextricably linked as commercial banks would have us all believe. If the seller could find a sufficient degree of comfort that the buyer would be able and willing to pay, it might be rational and reasonable for him to sell -- as that buyer is the only game in town.
There are dozens of empty properties in my neighborhood and the adjoining suburbs. These are cute little homes I bet I'd like owning, and there'd be no real up-tick in my expenses...I pay virtually all the costs of maintenance on my townhome now. It is even possible, though I have not looked, that the ginormous tax breaks for home buyers would be available on a home sale involving private financing.
My question is, does this seem workable? And if so, how do I find the potential sellers here? I have pondered on this for a few months, and it seems a bit aggressive to me -- but still possible. Am I being fanciful, or could this sort of deal happen? I know these sorts of deals occurred during the Recession of the 1970's, but I didn't know the details of any of them at the time.
What say you?
_________________