Off market 2.25% rate seller willing to seller finance or let me assume, need help

[Jordan Riggs]

Hi everyone,

TIA for your time in helping! We found this property through months of door knocking, post cards, anything to make connections in the neighborhood we wanted to live in. Finally, someone who wants to sell their home after meeting them and understanding their goals, and viewing the property, they disclosed that they wouldn't mind letting us assume their VA loan of 2.25% or even seller financing it to us. It seems as though the best option would be is to assume. His current mortgage note is 380k, if we go under contract we agreed upon 560k. Although this is working out ideally, there are some tricky components to this.

As of right now, the seller needs to move immediately and is requesting for at least 100K from the 180k that would be due in advance as he is trying to close on a cash only property. This would be able to move us in, and we would use that 100k as part of the 180k that would be required at the closing table for the assumption. Is this allowed to do a downpayment and have it be recorded? This way we could even do some sort of hybrid seller finance until loan assumes kind of deal, or am I just completely wrong in all of this? We have consulted with real estate lawyers and they basically just tell us you guys need to create your own terms and how you want to proceed. my thought is, 100k down while waiting for loan to assume, and seller financing and living there until that moment, and covering the rest of the funds at the closing table. If option 1 is not possible, does anyone have any ideas on how I could navigate this to still get a great deal? Would it be smarter to just try and do a seller financing option instead of even trying to bother with the loan assumption? The dude does not really seem to care much about charging us much higher as long as he gets his full 180k as he would if he'd list it on the market. We do have a back up plan incase the assumption falls through as we are preapproved upto the amount of the home. If proceeding to seller finance, or assume the loan, should I get an inspection on the property, should I get an appraisal? If anyone has any recommendations on how to navigate this it would be greatly appreciated as the payments per month would be substantially different. A conventional route would be about $3800 a month vs a $2400 Month.

Also would it be possible to do seller financing until the loan assumption happens, or if the assumption falls through, how could i refinance the home to be the conventional that I am already approved for at the number I bought it down. 560k off market when home is probably 580-600 Comps but seller owes 380k. so

Thank you all for your time and help.