Selling my property via owner finance - How to Get it Done?

[John Chan]

I'm selling one of my properties in Cincinnati, Ohio. This guy is putting down a 30% down payment and will finance the rest through me. I was planning on doing 2-3 years at 12-15% interest. Is that the normal owner-financing rate these days?

I have never sold a property without a realtor before. Can anyone guide me on specifically what I need to do to sell property without a realtor and record a mortgage on the property for what he owes me?

[Jon Holdman]

The simple answer? Get a lawyer and a title company and do everything through them.

What you're going to do is to create a purchase contract between you and the buyer. You'll take that to a title company. They will set up a closing. They will do the title search and issue the title policies. You should do this just like any other transaction. You (as seller) buy a owner's policy for the buyer. The buyer (as borrower) buys a lender's policy for the seller (also you). The title company will take care of recording all the documents.

You'll give the new buyer a deed.

The new borrower will give you a deed of trust or mortgage, which ever is used in OH.

The title company records both of those.

The borrower will also give you a promissory note spelling out all the details of the loan.

A lawyer could certainly create all those docs. The title company might, too. Another investor in your area might have them.

You want to check with a lawyer about your loan terms to be sure they're legal. 15% seems quite high for this sort of deal, to me. That's common for hard money, but that's a commercial loan.