Paying bills - proper approach

[Vlad Kuzin]

I am currently have a property which has decent amount outstanding for water and taxes. I wounder what my approach for paying these off should be:

Lets say I am offering $100,000 for the property and there is $6,000 of bills. Should I offer $100,000 and pay $6000 out of my pocket. Or should I offer $106,000 to seller and have them pay the bills?

[Rick H.]

Vlad - here's another way to think of this:

Either you are purchasing the asset (real estate) or buying the equity.

In the latter scenario, I use an Equity Purchase Agreement that spells out the terms in a very simple format.

Total price for equity is ____

Based on loan or liens balances estimated to be ____

Back payments ________

Any actual balances that are higher to be deducted from sellers net

Any balances that are lower shall accrue to buyer

You can structure your offer based on my ONE - TWO - THREE formula:

1) $ for signing

2) $ for possession

3) $ for marketable title or seller carry back note

Try to leave lots of white space on your proposal so seller isn't distracted by legal weasel clauses.