Creative / Seller Financing - Need Suggestions!!

[Ken Martin]

BP community! I've been in casual discussions on a multi-family property in SW Michigan. The owner is 70, has owned the building forever, has been managing it himself, and sounds like he may be ready to sell the property. I want to suggest a few different monetization options to him, and could use some suggestions. Say the property is $1M, is there a structure where the seller can retain some small percentage (10-20%) of the equity/upside? Whether it's through a bank, or through some type of seller financing? How would that work? Perhaps he could buy part of the LLC, or maybe lower the sale price? The more detail / examples the better!

Also, if the seller owns the property in a LLC and is going to retain some percentage of the equity, should I be trying to buy the LLC instead of the property to avoid a tax jump? 

[Dennis M.]

I would try to not have any balloons if he’ll go for it . 10-20% down with 5-6% amortized for many years is a great way to build a portfolio without a bank . Avoid balloons in the terms at all cost but have a provision in there that you can pay off property early without penalty