Investor · Boston, MA · Member since 2013 · 27 posts · 0 votes
A place I am looking at has a "seller needs to find suitable housing" disclosure. From what I can tell, he looks to be a single father with a child. I read people with children usually ask this? It does not sound like he is going through a divorce (no idea if I should even ask or not?!) because the listing agent made it seem like he was not in a hurry.
My initial offer got rejected and I'm trying to structure a counter-offer with an incentive to the seller without bringing up the original offer price too much. The difference between my offer and the counter offer is about 20k or so.
I was thinking of offering either a flexible closing date or seller rent-back agreement. From what I have read, it sounds like this is usually a bad idea if the state has tenant friendly laws (MA does)..
I would avoid a seller rent-back agreement. First find out what he wants besides $20K. Flexibility? Quick close?
Offer to move him out and pay for 6 months of storage. Offer to pay off a credit card. Try to find out what his 'button' is and figure out how to push it.
Thanks for the reply on this Chris. Negotiating with the seller, I was told he needed the funds to purchase a new home so he stuck with his rent-back guns. Agent told me it's because he did not want a contingency on selling his home while looking. I couldn't offer him a fast close as I'm not paying cash and my lender estimated 45-60 days to close.
I've since talked to a laywer and she is working on coming up with a bullet-proof rent back lease agreement with security deposit at closing. The only thing I'm worried about now is if he for some reason decides to not pay rent and squats there. Hope not, but I guess that's a risk I got to stomach if I want this deal...
He'll have a pocket full of money from selling, so you could ask for 6-months advanced rent, refundable pro-rated whenever he leaves. And make sure you charge above-market rent so he has an incentive not to just stay.