Personal loan of $60,000

[Ron Boling]

I live in Massachusetts and have a family member who is asking for a personal loan of $60,000 to purchase a $78,000 mobile home in Rhode Island. I do have the money to loan and would like to help and I know that the best advice is not to get into business with family. That being said how would I structure this deal while best protecting myself? These are the two options that I can think of:

1. Loan them the money and have them pay it back to me with interest. (bad option)

2. Purchase the property myself and mortgage it to them. (better option)

Is there a "best option" that I am not seeing here?

I'd like to purchase the property and mortgage it to them but I know the mobile park has an HOA fee that as the owner I would have to qualify for but I'm sure that one of the qualifiers is having an income which right now I do not have since I sold my last income property and am looking for another. So I'm not sure I would get approved by the park. I know they could qualify for the fee but they can't get a loan because of their credit score. They got caught up in the bubble when it burst but they have a good steady income. I'd like to help in a win/win way but I'd also like to be protected in case it all goes south.

Any advice would be appreciated. 

Recommendations for real estate lawyers in the South Coast region of Massachusetts and Rhode Island would be appreciated as well. 

Thanks in advance! 

[Jason Li]

you could lend it to them and hold a lien on the property. It's the same as what a bank or hard money lender would do. That way they still get the title to the property but you could foreclosure on them if they do not pay.