Seller Financing pros vs. cons and guidance

[Chelsie Runnings]

My landlord has just notified me she is considering selling the property I rent from her. I would like to approach the subject of seller financing with her as a possibility of buying the property but I am not sure of how to go about this.

The property is located in Sonoma County, after the fall fires we have a severe lack of inventory and houses are flying off the market far over asking price. What can I do to sweeten the idea of owner financing. This is a property that she inherited from her parents with no loan owed on it. Also, it has a total of 3 units on it. 1 primary house that I live in, and 2 others that had previously been garages and converted to 1 bedrooms many years ago and have also been rented out. I have lived here for going on 3 years and have a good relationship with the owner. I am not ready to take a home loan. I work full time but pay is inconsistent because I am also a Realtor so some weeks my full time job as a paralegal is not always 40+ hours a week, due to needing to focus on my Real Estate work. 

Can anyone please give me some advice and also some guidance on approaching this situation?

[Michael Guzik]

Good job on finding your first off market property! The first thing I would suggest is finding out what she wants. Why is she selling? Does she want a large sum of money now or does she want consistent cash flow coming in like she is used to? I would offer her a good offer and make it very fair. If you try and lowball, she will not go for the idea, maybe even overpay if she is willing to do owner financing. You are in a perfect situation and good on you for looking into it! You sound like a very hard worker and like you have an amazing relationship so I am sure you can make this work. First just find out why she is selling and what she wants and go from there. When she sells she will be taxed and probably put the money in the bank at maybe a 1% interest. You can offer her a great offer and give her interest of let's say 7%. Write these numbers out and show her an example of the difference in cash flow and money she gets over time. This is a win win situation so show that you are wanting what's best for her and are helping both of ya'll get what you want. Good luck you found a golden opportunity and I'm sure you can make it work!