Selling a private DOT to a third party?

[Dave Krenk]

I own a single-family home ( for about 2 1/2 years) that is privately financed by a family member. Family member received an offer from a third party to buy the Deed of Trust. From the letter (addressed specifically to the family member) they could sell the note, receive cash, and we (the property owner) would simply send the mortgage payment to a different address (with no change in the terms of the note). This concept is intriguing because, if we were to do this, the family member would be willing to make that money available to buy-fix-flip some properties. Does anyone out there have any experience in selling DOT on a privately-financed property? Any red flags? The company is First National Acceptance Company in Lansing MI, which appears to be a solid, reputable company with A+ rating at the BBB. I found a few negative comments on the internet, but they seemed to be from people that may not have fully understood what they were doing.

Simply put, this appears to be a way to get cash out of a property and use it for other investing activities.  I welcome your comments.

[Darren Eady]

The biggest catch will be that First National Acceptance will probably make an offer with a significant discount on the DOT/Mortgage Note cost and your family member will probably not be interested in selling with a 20 - 40% discount. If they could get 95-100% from FNA, it would be a good thing for all.