We have a fairly new trailer house and some one has asked us if we would do a contract for deed since they can't get a loan because 2 yrs ago they went bankrupcy. We have been trying to sell for the last year. we have it listed but no luck. any advice on this matter would be great. We owe on it yet. Thanks

I just noticed no one ever responded to your post so I thought I would offer my two cents.

Selling a home on a contract for deed does have many benefits and some possible downfalls.

On the one hand, the seller does not get to "cash out" and take all of their proceeds right now. Generally, the seller gets a down payment from the buyer and acts like the bank collecting payments over a set time period, usually 2-5 years. At the end of the term, the buyer needs to go out and get an end loan to purchase the property.

Often times the real estate buyer does not improve their credit to buy the property. In this case, the seller keeps the down payment and you can renegotiate the contract.

Here in Minnesota, we have helped an number of buyers and seller looking to do this type of transaction. There aren't alot of these types of deals on the MLS and the transactions can be complicated, so be sure to work with a top realtor to guide you through this process.

The value of a contract for deed depends on your motive for selling. Right now, I am selling a house this way. I am making more on the cfd than I was getting in rent, so that's a nice perk for me. And, unlike a rental, I don't have to maintain the house -- if the water heater goes out, they replace it, not me. The note is for 20 years, though the buyer says they'll get a loan in a couple of years and pay me off. If they do, fine; if they don't, we'll keep going the way we are and I'm fine with that too.

For some folks, the downside is having to get the buyers out of the house if they don't pay. Heh, if that happens, I'll give them two options -- I file a foreclosure notice at the courthouse and they sign a Quit Claim deed back to me, or I take them to court and give them a real headache. I full well expect to get the property back in a few short years because they moved back here to take care of the aging mother, who lives next door. When she's gone, I expect they'll go elsewhere. And then we'll gut the house and remodel it . . . and decide then what to do with it.

I'll admit, I live in a much slower paced area than many people, and I didn't have a mortgage on that house so I didn't have to worry about a lender "catching" me. If you have a loan on the house, your lender can probably call your note for doing this - but, so long as you're really making the payments, I can't see why they'd get upset. However, I am not an attorney, and there is NO legal advice being offered in this post! Recommend you read your mortgage carefully and run your idea by a local attorney.

This thread was started over 4 years ago ! I do so hope they were able to solve their problem during the intervening 1500 days. Things have been slow all over, I guess.

But, just in case they're still pondering their position, here's another more recent thread discussing "Rent to Own Contracts" which might be helpful:

http://www.agentsonline.net/forums/ubbth...html#Post258739