Need Help With Property In Philadelphia

[Deshawn Lewis]

I'm in need of some help, my uncle came to me the other day and asked if I would like to take over his rental in Philadelphia. He knows I'm in RE and just would like to help me out in getting a property. it's in south Philadelphia an up and coming neighborhood. He only owes 40k on the house and is worth about 100-120k. I was thinking about trying to assume the mortgage but was told it might not be possible. I might just have to buy it from him. He is willing to sale it for 45k, which means I would have a lot of equity to start which I'm not mad about. It's currently rented out blow market rate to a guy who lived there for about 7 years(never late). I wanted to know what would be the best way to get this property from my uncle? I don't mind doing the traditional way but I just purchased my primary home January this year.

[Chheang Yang]

Hey Deshawn, sounds like you've got a deal on your hands!  A couple of things to check out first would be the home's condition and subsequently the value - just to confirm there's nothing major wrong and it really is worth the 100k.

As for taking on ownership... I take it your uncle still has a mortgage.  There's more than a couple ways to do this, but I think the simple thing to do is simply buy the home from him.  No need for agent or anything like that.  I honestly wouldn't use one for this.

Call up an title company and let them know the situation.  They probably even have a sample contract form they can give you so that you and your uncle can sign a contract.  Contact your bank and get your loan started (I'm assuming you'll want a mortgage on it).  The title company will contact your Uncle's bank as well as your bank.  Note that you'll have to be really tied into the conversations, but just think you're saving 5-6% realtor fees by simply doing this yourself.  Between the title company and the bank contacts, I think the rest is just following the process of standard home purchase.

After you own the home, consider if you want to just keep the status quo with the tenant or raise his/her rent.  That's another bridge to cross when you get there.

Good luck and let me know if you have more questions.