Seller giving me a house

[Josh Cunningham]

I have a seller who bought a house on a  land contract and wants to give it to me. To say the contract was basic is an understatement. Explained purchase price, monthly payment (including taxes and insurance), how much of the payment was P&I and taxes/insurance, parties involved, start and end date, number of months of contract, buyer and sellers address and that buyers would assume ownership at the end, signed and dated by both parties. Not notarized, nothing recorded at the register of deeds ( which I have also done ), nothing about "due on sales clause". County records do show the seller as the name in the contract.

"New" sellers only owe about $16,000 on it but this is a lower income neighborhood with prices ranging from $10,000-$40,000. This is a 2 unit and would rent both for $1,000 per month. The problem with this is, the city conducts ridiculous rental inspections and if it is unoccupied more than 6 months a "safety inspection" is conducted and everything needs to be brought up to current code or if there was any work done without a permit, you are hiring licensed contractors to inspect and redo or rip out and start from scratch and that is why property prices are so low because you can expect an extra several thousand (my last house there $6-7,000) on top of cosmetic repairs.

Although it is a lower income neighborhood, at no point did it feel unsafe. Mostly jeans, work boots etc, middle aged working class from what I notice touring that neighborhood.

One concern is the lack of documentation/ non-notarized. I know it does now have to be such in order to be a legal document but would feel better if it was.

Because I do not want to deal with the city, My preferred exit strategy would be to wholesale the property or re-sell on a land contract wrap for ex. $27,900, $3-4,000 and monthly payments aprox $100 per month with an extra 1-2 years of additional income after my payoff. BUT would be concerned about the lack of professionalism in the contract and a moral obligation not to sell a house I do not own because of the current contract. Thinking that contacting the original seller would be the smart thing to do and advise him of the takeover (since there was no due on sales) but would want something more concrete in writing.

Thoughts?