We looked at two houses this week. Both seemed like "deals". One had "100K" in equity with the seller happily agreeing to sign house over into a land trust and hold the financing for several years. The other the seller is begging us to take over. No equity, but good price, good monthly payment, seller willing to refinance for better loan... and hold for many years...good deal maybe - Except for the fact that he has a Realtor and for some reason he didn't tell her we were investors who would not be going through her. So when she showed us house she was talking to us like we were retail buyers. She'll have to get out of the pic.
House with "100K" equity. We walked in and there were no floors, no kitchen, 30 year bathrooms that looked like they hadn't been cleaned in 20 years, dead landscaping... basically your typical nightmare or dream depending on how good the price is. So - 100K in equity? Nope. $60K - 100K in work needed. This house is no beuno. This guy is screwed. No one will take on that kind of risk in this market. But wait - maybe we can put in minimal work - get a kitchen in there, then sell it as a "sweat equity" property? Hhhmmm... The seller would have to be willing to foot the bill to get the house up to livable circumstances, then we can sell it in a land trust to someone as a sweat equity property for at least 5 -7 years? Or is this just way to much crap to deal with for one property? Probably. Maybe.
Deals are everywhere. I like the low risk, easy "here take over my house" deals. Or REO - no homeowner involved deals... What about you?
