Possible Deal?

MarleyLiv profile photo

Hi all,

I hope I am in the right place to post this but here it goes:

I have a motivated owner of a property in a very desirable area of NJ. The owner called me back yesterday and the house has still not sold (5 months on market now with an agent). She has it listed for 460K which 'might' be a bit high but certainly not out of the realm of someone buying in that town for that much. In any case, she is willing to let it go for 420K. I am not willing to offer that much since there is no room for error if I did. The house has a lot of equity but this is as low as she is willing to go.
SO, i began thinking that maybe I can still make some money off of this deal and wanted to run this by you. The way I look at it, if I can get this house under contract for 420K under one contingency of finding a retail buyer, this might fly. I find a retail buyer at 440K (not a bad deal at all for them) and take the difference without ever taking title to the property. Basically just assign the contract to the buyer. The only stumbling block is that the seller's house is listed with an agent for another month and I don't know if I can do all this without first having the seller get out of the listing agreement.
Anyways, just wanted to see if anyone was in this situation before and what they did to still make some money, whether through keeping an existing listing agreement in place or not. Thanks all.


Ed (MarleyLiv)

Comments(6)

  • mattfish117th January, 2005

    You can absolutely put it under contract for $420,000 if you so desire. However - you have to wait until it is no longer listed with a realtor... Just use an assignable contract when you put in under contract and assign it to your final buyer...
    Make sure of your estimated FMV before you waste your time and money... grin
    [addsig]

  • MarleyLiv7th January, 2005

    Thanks neighbor! I am trying to do 2 things:

    Ask the seller to see if she can get a permenant non-conditional release from her listing agreement so that we can move forward or work something out with the agent so that he goes away. And secondly, I am trying to use another realtor to bring a ready buyer to the table. We will see if this works out but I figure I have 20K to play with as a cushion in case there is not enough buyer demand.

    Thanks again! I guess I was just trying to validate what I am tryhing to do.

  • mattfish118th January, 2005

    Good Luck with it - let us know how it goes with this deal!

    [addsig]

  • yergtree10th January, 2005

    Marley,
    If the seller was really motivated in wanting to sell to you. She could admend the listing contract with the agent, so that if you find a buyer, you and/or assigned would not be liable for a commission for a non-performing agent. But then again there is only one month left before the contract expires. You make the call

  • MARLYSE10th January, 2005

    Just a word of caution: Lenders now expect the appraiser to provide a 12-month listing history on the property. When your buyer goes for financing, he/she may have some problems with the price.
    Then again she may not!
    If the property does not appraise or if the value is reduced, you may not have a deal.
    Contact John at **Please See My Profile**

  • MarleyLiv11th January, 2005

    Yes, truly motivated sellers are hard to come by! smile
    I have had a hard time getting a hold of this woman again so this all might be moot but for the sake of the conversation, I HAVE heard that lender requirement recently and got a bit concerned since the buyer will most likely not be a cash buyer.
    My other question was, if the only intent of the seller was to cure the arrears and stop the foreclosure proceedings but they couldn't refinance due to bad credit, would it be possible to put up the money and take a percent of title to property with hope for future profit when selling? I have heard before that this could be considered illegal. Thanks in advance!

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