Help. What's the best way to buy this property?

[Mike Dodd]

Hey there everyone. I'm getting ready for my buy my first rental, that's if I can find a way to do it where the numbers make sense. 

I currently work as a general contractor in Houston, TX. One of my best and long time customers is a lady who is in a tight spot. She was taken advantage of after suffering home damage during Hurricane Harvey (2017) and lost almost all of her savings. That's when I met her. I came in and finished putting her house back together and she's continued calling for little odd jobs here and there over the years. She's also a nurse and was making good income, except she was forced to stay home toward the beginning of 2020 because of her age, therefore she's eaten through the rest of her savings. She's been in contact wanting me to fix some things with the house so she can sell it, however she's had to put all the fixes on hold because she has no money. Her goal is to fix up the house, sell it and retire near her son in Arkansas. 

Her home is estimated to be around $240k and she owes $37k.

I'm estimating repairs to be around $10k and I currently have $50k available

I am trying to think of a way that makes sense for me to purchase the house and take care of the repairs so she doesn't have to worry about coming up with any other money, while at the same time not tying up all my money for a long period of time. I was thinking about looking into owner financing, however I'm not sure if thats an option since she still owes on the house. If owner financing is not an option, I'm trying to figure out other possible options to finance the purchase of the house. 

Thank you for any advice you can give,

Mike

[Jackie Jake]

Brian, I believe Mike wants to buy and hold the property not list it for sale as he indicated his intention to have the property as a rental. The Seller financing sounds like a very good option. Also, Brian indicated he did not want to deplete his available funds of $50,000.00 Some questions to be answered would be what is the prevailing rents in your Market Mike? Long term rental or short term? What would be the ROI in 3-5 years, lots of variables here to consider depending on the ultimate goal for the property.