Can I Take Over House Payments- Buying House Cheap from a Friend

[Angela DeBorja]

We have a very close friend who is desperate to sell her rowhome in Baltimore. She purchased it for 250K in 2007, owes 221K, and it is currently rented but the rent does not cover her mortgage. The rent probably could cover the mortgage, but she is not willing to raise the rent with the current tenants  or deal with it is as she no longer lives locally. She is willing to hand us over the property, where we would practically get it for free and simply take over the payments. Our goal would be hopefully to rehab and then flip the property, but we would be okay with renting it out too after rehabbing it. It is in a C neighborhood just north of Patterson Park. It has been rehabbed in the past.  It will need light cosmetic updating as far as we know. How would we go about doing the sale so that we would have our company name on the deed as well as the the loan? Could we potentially switch to another mortgage lender if we can find a better interest rate than she has on the house currently?