Creative Financing Question

[Jamie H.]

I am early in my REI journey, doing a lot of listening and learning, but haven't yet put together a deal. I have a SF rental home which I used to live in; next door to it is a property with a very small (650 sq ft/1 bedroom and 1 bath) house and a large open yard. The yard is on the side of the property against my house's property line, therefore, the light and open space for the entire side of my house is possible because of that open space. I have always looked across that fence-line and longed to own the property next door as well (apparently the story goes that the owners of my house built the little house next door for their daughter, then sold off the land/house at some point along the way) so that I could control any possible design/build on the next door property in a way that would maintain value for both properties. If a builder buys who doesn't care about this, they will probably go right up to the fence-line really limiting light and changing the entire feel of my property.

So, here's the kicker - the little property next door was just listed for sale with a review date of Tuesday. I do not have enough cash to make an all cash offer, and don't believe that we would qualify for traditional financing (though will look into whether we might if we apply in my husband's name alone). Either way, Tuesday is soon and I'm not sure a traditional offer will come together quickly enough. I'd love ideas of how I might approach this (I do have the seller's contact info but when I reached out to just let him know that I was interested without any additional details, he sent me directly to his agent)...

I'm open to all opinions about the situation, how to assess whether this is worth doing, and if so, how you might approach financing.