Private lending for purchase of **primary residence**

[Kristen D.]

Hello --

I'm a “regular person” on a mission and looking for suggestions or ideas. I found a home that I’d like to buy and can not afford. For a variety of reasons, I am pursuing it anyway.

Are there private lenders out there who do this sort of residential real estate investment? Turns out there aren't any housing trust funds for non-affordable housing. : ) This learning curve is steep, but I think what I am looking for is someone who would consider a shared equity mortgage.

Alternatively, but less preferable, I’d like to find someone who wants to purchase a (probably) low-risk property and agree to lease it to me for a very, very long time. In that case I would ask to pay less rent than market value in exchange for working on the property.

If you have any thoughts, I'd really appreciate hearing them!

Reluctant to post this, but here is further information --

The property is in Charlottesville, Virginia, in an established neighborhood within a mile of the University of Virginia. Handwritten "For Sale" and "For Rent" signs have been out front for 6 weeks or more. I've been talking with the owners over the last 2 weeks. They are 80 years old and live in a neighboring town. They would like to “work something out” with me.

According to the city assessor's records, the home is about 85 years old and was bought by the current owners 8 years ago for roughly $450,000. They rented it for 7 years. It is now vacant. The property is very, very overgrown. The house is pretty dreary inside but feels solid. Once it is uncovered and brightened, it will be a wonderful home. I have a property summary sheet and GIS viewer map as well as a list of the surrounding properties' last transfer dates and prices.

The owners will consider a rental-purchase agreement. I have their permission to get an appraisal and a home inspection.

Thanks very much!

[Aaron Howell]

Welcome to Bigger Pockets @Kristen D. !  You're in the right place for learning.  

Most likely if they're 80 years old (and I'm completely generalizing here) they're tired and worn out for the landlord business if its vacant.  I would bet you they haven't kept up with maintenance and there is a lot of deferred maintenance (overgrown, vacant, dreary appearance, etc).  I doubt they'd get $450,000 with all that said.

Now as for getting it to cash flow... in Charlottesville ... that's another story.  If its a single family home forget it at that price.  A duplex and you might break even so there's a limited investor pool.

Charlottesville has a real estate investor meeting held monthly.  You can find it on Meetup.com and look for it in the search box.  @Gavin Huffman leads it.  That may be a good place to start.