What should I do?

Hello,
I’m meeting with a lady today FSBO. She has 4.9 acres with a home (farm) She originally wanted $165k but it needs new windows, paint, carpet and dropped to 149k. It was appraised @143k. I would really like her to play a part in the financing and I definitely need to drop the price some more. She mentioned helping with closing cost. Anyone give me any feedback and what I should be looking for? How I can make this happen. Usually with owner financing if she is interested how much should I put down etc? I appreciate any feedback.

ericar,
Is this house going to be your home? A rental?

What is the asking price? What loans are now on the home? Why is the owner selling? What is the condition of the home?

The more answers you give, the more advice people can give you back!

Furnishedowner

If she dropped the price a lot but is still above the appraisal, why do you want this place? Look for a deal.

Well I wanted to live in it for a while to fix it up but I don’t see much potential with the acreage because it’s out in the country and I went looking for it yesterday and a bunch of the neighbors have old cars, junk outside. Across the street the lady is asking $1796k for 2.25 acre with home. I was thinking I can do something with acreage by selling it individually. She has 13 yrs living at the property and really doesn’t want to fix it up. I’m not sure if this would be a good deal. Still debating…

I would certainly pass on this deal. For several reasons. Foremost, it’s a farm. That severely restricts your exit strategies right there.

Seller is asking for above retail price. That alone would have told me to not even waste the trip.

OMG I just read it needs work too…lol…this deal sucks.

Think about this…even if she deeded it to you on the spot for $0 down, pays all the closing costs, AND gives YOU $1,000 cash what do you have? A farm in the middle of nowhere that needs rehab and that’s worth less than you paid for it even if it were in perfect condition.

I understand you want a deal and you’re looking for a way to make it work with the land, etc but always remember you make your money when you buy. Not on wishful thinking and speculation.

Don’t walk…RUN

If you’ll live there as a principle residence (i.e., spend a majority of the year there) then you might consider using an FHA 203k.

5 acres isn’t really a farm and 5 acres in the country with a house isn’t usually hard to sell. Lots of people dream of getting out of the city and raising some veggies and a few chickens. 5 acres is just what they are looking for.

However, aside from the fact it is over-priced by a considerable amount, there is nothing that you can do about junky neighbors and junky neighbors will make the property almost impossible to re-sell.

By the way, if you just want to live in the country, there is a foreclosure just down the road from me that they can’t sell for $199K, so I suspect they’d take a lot less. $149K is a very real possiblity.

It’s a gorgeous house, only a few years old on 5 usable acres, on a good street with above average houses. The community has a good reputation, comes with a golf course membership, 3 ski mountains within an hour and a half, 30 public golf courses in the area, 11 inches of rain a year and sunshine nearly every day.

So why would you want to buy a piece of crap? Shop around. In this market, you can do a lot better than that.

If it only appraised for $143K then I think she’s going to have a hard time selling it for anything more. And certainly, any lender will use the appraised to calculate LTV. If she won’t lower her price, I’d wait. Sooner or later she’ll be forced to lower her price or keep the property. I’d go FHA.