Real Estate Investment:HELP! IT’S A BUYER’S MARKET AND I NEED TO SELL!
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We’ve talked before about taking your house off the market if you don’t really need to sell it right now. But what if you’re one of those people who HAS to sell? You’ve been transferred to another town and you’re stuck with a house that you need to sell right now.
Well, to compete in a Buyer’s Market you’ve got to be creative. Unless of course you own the house free and clear and don’t care how much you get for it, in which case you just price it 5-10% below the foreclosures in your area, and then you won’t have a problem selling it! Most sellers aren’t in that happy position, however, so let’s assume you still have a mortgage on the house.
If the mortgage is equal to or less than the house is currently worth, one option is to find a buyer who will simply take over your payments. Especially now, while new loans are hard to come by, there are many investors who will buy a property with the existing financing staying in place. Understand that this is not the same as someone qualifying to assume your loan (which is almost as troublesome as getting a new loan). This is a private arrangement between Buyer and Seller whereby the buyer is taking over the payments on the existing loan (i.e. you stop paying and they start paying).
This option works very well if you have only a little equity in the house and you’re willing to sacrifice that for a quick sale, or if you have considerable equity and are willing to carry a second mortgage on the property, at least for the first few years. This is a great idea if you don’t need all the cash immediately, since it reduces the tax you would otherwise pay on the sale of the property, and gives you a steady income for a while. Even if you have no equity (or negative equity) in the house, you may still get a buyer to take it, since there are lots of potential buyers out there who don’t presently qualify for a mortgage, but still want to buy a house.
The real secret is to find the ways that you can make it easier for a buyer to buy YOUR house than the others for sale in your area.