What would be the best way to approach my neighbor about purchasing their house? I just found out she filed bankruptcy this week?
If the house isn’t included in their bankruptcy, find out if they’re behind on payments. Do you know if the foreclosure process has started yet?
If it has, just go talk to them. Talk to them as a friend that can help out. Many people in foreclosure think if they file bankruptcy that they’re problems will go away, but they don’t realize that it just prolongs what’s going to happen, AND adds a bankruptcy to their credit report.
Tell them that if you can work together to find a good deal on the house that works for both of you, that you can at least stop them from having a foreclosure on their credit report. Either way they’re not going to get any proceeds from the house, so why not make the best of a bad situation?
Whatever you do, if you do take possession of he property, DON’T LET THEM STAY THERE! Make sure before you put any serious money into the deal that they are no longer living in the property.
As an investor, it’s my opinion that you should be helping people anyway, not trying to “rip them off”. So going at it at a helping angle shouldn’t be a stretch for you, especially since they’re your neighbors.
Dustin,
Find out if the home is included in the bankruptcy. If yes then you will have to petition the court with the help of her attny to get it out to sell to you for loan value. She will not get to keep any proceeds from the sale . She most likly is behind on payments. Is her loan value back of market value? If she owes more than it’s worth this may be a good short sale deal as hard ship is being established with foreclosure coming possibly.
More info please, Darin
Thanks Darin. She owes about 72k on the house. With about 2 to 3k the house will sell for about 125k. I just moved from this neighborhood about 2 months ago. I was her next door neighbor. My house was on the market 1 day when I sold it.
sweet ! Get it under contract if not in the bankruptcy.
Darin