Owner financing, anyone done it?

[RazorbackMustang]

Longish story. We've been renting our current house for about 2.5 years. Landlords changed about 6 months into the lease, so they've been the same for the last two years. They've been absolutely fantastic. They even fixed our driveway, which was cracked at the entrance and caused my car to drag. No questions asked, new driveway poured. Dishwasher started leaking, new dishwasher was in the next day. So we're VERY happy with them.

Their primary business is real estate, not rental homes. They were given this house by our first landlord because they were owed something and this settled some sort of outstanding debt. So they own the house free and clear.

I don't have a huge down payment available, nor can I get one in any reasonable timeframe as we're working on getting rid of our consumer debt right now. However, we'd like to get to a place where we can do some things to the house. From my point of view, it's a win win for both of us. They sell, at a reasonable market price, we buy without all the extra crap that would come with dealing with a bank such as ridiculous closing costs and such. They get out from under the obligations of a rental home, covering repairs and such.

Has anyone gone through this process? I would like to approach them with this in the next week or so. Any advice, suggestions, pitfalls, personal experiences, etc would be appreciated. Thanks guys!

 

[weather man]

It sounds like a cash for deed sale. I would research AR rules for such a sale.

 

[JimC]

Typical land contract scenario, with the private owner acting as your bank. You will want an attorney to review everything, make sure that the contract is legal, recorded, and that they have clear title to deliver at the end of the contract. You want the land contract recorded so that they can't go out and sell the house again or get a mortgage - they are still technically the owner and if you don't record the land contract no one will know that they don't have clear title.

 

[skwerl]

I bought my house as a lease-option 15 years ago. The owner was in his 70s and looking to retire from the real estate rental market. It was relatively easy considering that was the short period of my life when I was employed by others, not self employed. Mortgage money was flying fast and easy at that time as well.

Lots of people will have negative feelings about it but for me it was my one and only chance to buy a house, and I'm thankful for it. I never would have qualified otherwise. The one year lease option with a portion of my monthly payment going toward the down payment made the difference.

 

[HEMI LOL]

It sounds like a cash for deed sale. I would research AR rules for such a sale.

this. good luck Lucas sounds like it could be a killer deal.