Advice on Land Contract/Possible Sub2 in Ohio

[Jason Sellers]

Hi BP,

I'm pretty new to this area of investing, so I want to see if there's anything I can do with this situation that came across my desk. My primary focus is buying/selling notes, but I was contacted by a homeowner in the Mansfield, Ohio area who is selling his house on a land contract and doesn't have confidence that his tenant/buyer will be able to buy the house when the contract is up next September.

The T/B has been in the house for 3.5 years, but has been late with payments (which are just enough to cover the mortgage) several times over that span and the owner believes he has grounds to cancel the contract. If he does this, he would like to go ahead and sell once and for all (if possible), but would want to sell as-is and does not want to make payments on a house he no longer lives in while the house is on the market.

Therefore, he is open to selling sub2 if his payments are covered, but would prefer some assurance that it wouldn't be an open-ended arrangement. I don't feel comfortable doing my first sub2 on a house 7 hours away from me and wasn't sure if there was enough meat on the bone to wholesale it to a more experienced and local investor. ARV is about $180k (unconfirmed; not a lot of great comps and I haven't contacted a realtor for a CMA yet), the underlying mortgage is about $134k and they are asking for $147k (only minimal cosemtic work needed). Is this even a deal worth pursuing? If so, are there any ideas on how I can structure a win-win (or possibly win-win-win) here? Thanks.