Question: Want to Sell, but Not Sure How to Go About It.

[Bruce Kinser]

I have a friend that owns a vacant rental home that she hasn't made a payment in years on and is in foreclosure status.  As her real estate agent, I've attempted to work with her and the bank to short sell it.  We've had several workable offers in my view, however, the bank or the buyers were not able to agree price.

Now, comes along the lender (out the blue) with an offer of a loan modification that reduces her principal significantly to a point where we can sell the home without having to go through a short sale.  But the problem is that she has to make her payments for a 3-month trial period and there is no guarantee that the bank will follow through with the initial terms given in their offer.

My friend doesn't want to make even the trial payments as she is close to retirement age and just wants to get rid the place.  My thoughts were to offer the home on a lease-option whereby the tenan-buyer could make a small option payment, then make a payment to cover her's to the bank and include a clause in the LO agreement that if the payment is adjusted by the bank, the the tenant-buyer's would adjust as well.  The only issue then is what if the bank fails to honor their own offer to her and then continues to proceed to a foreclosure sale?  

Any suggestions would be appreciated.