Back taxes approach

[Tony Santos]

Morning bigger pockets,

I have come across an interesting property where the homeowner is 27k behind in back taxes. Long story short- I landed him with my direct mail campaign, went to the house, figured the rehab costs are between 50-60k, ARV is 220-245k, and offered him 100k cash. The homeowner is on the fence with the offer and needs some time. My question to the bigger pockets community is- has anyone closed a deal with a customer who owes a ton of back taxes in a different way? A different way as in not your typical flip like I mentioned up above. I met with a former investor and he said the beauty with back taxes is your options are endless on how you can purchase the property. Back in 2012 another long story short he met someone with 18k in back taxes. He paid the taxes off for the customer, got his name on the deed, had an agreement the house needed to be sold within a year, and once the house was sold he would get 45%, sounds genius/sketchy to me. I am just curious if anyone has made an out of the box deal like that one where I could consider with my current customer who I am negoitting with. The more replys the better :)

Thanks!!!

[Crystal Smith]

@Tony Santos I'd do some more due diligence on this.  If he owes $27K in back taxes chances are there may be other liens on the property.  

If he owns the property free & clear w/ the exception of the back taxes then an "out of the box" approach (Using your words- It's really not out of the box) is to make the property owner a partner.  Reach an agreement to pay off his taxes.  In exchange for paying off his taxes you agree to renovate the property & share some of the proceeds from the sale w/ him.  If he agrees you could potentially reduce the amount of cash you need to execute the project.  The incentive for the owner- He could potentially walk away w/ more profit than your current offer.  For this to work you'll have to get security in the property with the owner; a solid joint venture agreement & the owner may have to move.    We've done this a couple of times over the years.  All they can do is say no.