What to do?

[Cheryl M.]

A seller wants to sell their house for 49k but the property is worth about 40k and it's in a pretty bad area. Should I take the deal and if so, how would I structure this? Thanks.

[Jon Holdman]

No, that's a terrible deal. If its truly worth $40K, and is in pristine condition, don't pay more than about $28K. There's no way to structure that into something profitable, unless you have a buyer on the hook who will pay you an even higher price and will actually close.

Now, if the seller want's $49K because that's what they need to pay off the loan, then perhaps you can work out a short sale.

Its easy to find bad deals. Much, much harder to find good ones. Keep looking.