Help! I have a motivated seller and don't know what to do!

[Melissa Yatzeck]

I'm just starting out with real estate investing. I sent out some direct mail letters, and I have someone who called me back who has a property they want to sell! The owner admitted to me that the property needs a lot of work. He owns it free and clear. 

It is a small 2 bedroom vacation cabin near a lake (not on the lake) in Wisconsin. The story he told me was that about ten years ago some family friends were having a rough time and lost their house to foreclosure, and he let them move into his cabin with the understanding they would help out with maintenance. They never had any written lease or other agreement, and these people have never paid any rent. They have done, in his words, the bare minimum, to maintain the place, including putting on a new roof at some point when it was needed. And now it's been over 10 years! 

He says the property may need to be condemned, he is not even sure how bad it is. He says he knows there are some foundation issues (not a full basement, just a crawl space) and floor joists have been propped up, old six fuse electric, a garage which is falling down and he has gotten notifications from the county/town to tear down or repair, and probably more. He hasn't been inside in a long time, and the people who live there are no longer returning his calls. He lives 2 hours away. I looked it up on Google Maps Street View, and the cabin really doesn't look too bad to me from the street. I can't see the garage (it's behind the house). It's a nice lot, and the houses around look decent enough. 

He has never charged rent or asked for a lease because he doesn't want to be a landlord. (!!!!) He says he really doesn't want to be "the bad guy" and evict these people. But admitted he's been paying taxes on the property all this time and they haven't done anything except live in it ("maintaining it"). He's worried the local law enforcement will continue to send him notifications about garbage in the yard and the falling down garage. When I asked him why he called me, why he wanted to sell now, after all this time, he said that he really wants to buy a pontoon boat, and his wife says he can't buy one until he cleans up this mess and gets rid of this cabin! 

He seems eager to sell, doesn't really seem to care how much he gets for the property, just wants to be done with it.  He said ideally he would sell it to the people living there for the market price minus the estimated cost of repairs, and give them a really great deal, but I think he understands that getting them agree to pay for the place is unlikely. I could buy it, and then attempt to evict these people, but is that a good idea for my first investment purchase? What would you more experienced folks do in this situation?

[Mindy Jensen]

@Melissa Yatzeck , I think you can still do something with this property, but you would have to put eyeballs on it before you buy it.

What lake is it on? Is this a popular lake? What is your ideal end game and what else could you do if that ideal end game didn't end up working out?

I can completely see his point of view. He thought he was being nice, they took advantage of him but he's probably also just a really nice guy who doesn't want to rock the boat. I'm not getting glaring red flags from this story yet. Certainly things to watch out for.

Does the property have a clear title? If there are liens or other clouds, then I'd recommend walking away.

What could you sell it for? What is the eviction process in Wisconsin? Are there any children living in the property at this time?

For sure this will be a challenge, and I don't think you'll be able to buy it contingent upon it being vacant. I think he wants to sell his problem. Figure out at what price it makes sense to buy his problem.