Originally posted this scenario here → http://www.reiclub.com/forums/index.php/topic,32362.0.html
House is in ready-to-sell condition and I’ve been marketing the house for lease-option for almost 2 months now, but so far not getting many calls. The market has taken a dive in this particular submarket (Prince William county VA 25 miles south of DC). Plus this is a bad time of year to be selling houses (right after the holidays). I’ve been using mostly bandit signs (mediocre results) and classified ads (crappy results) with messages like “LEASE OPTION” “NO BANK QUALIFYING” “BAD CREDIT OK” etc.
I’m becoming a “motivated seller!” I don’t have a payment due to seller until 2/1/08 so that gives me just under 1 month to get this thing sold.
I’m considering re-negotiating my deal with the seller. She’ll probably take an owner financed offer, on some type of land contract, agreement for deed, or whatever similar document is commonly used in the state of VA. She probably won’t just hand over the deed.
My questions: is it typically easier to get a house sold on a land contract/agreement-for-deed/owner financed strategy as opposed to a lease option? What is the least amount of down payment I should settle for on a $329K townhouse? Finally, I don’t want to make a payment to the seller out of my own pocket; so if I can’t get it sold before 2/1 and I decide to bail out of this deal altogether, and the seller agrees to annul the deal, can she come back later and sue me? If so what can I do or get signed to avoid/minimize the chance of this happening?