Here is the scenario

[Thomas Jackson]

I live in Texas. I have started to market in another area(Syracuse, NY Area) where I plan to move in about 6 months. I already started marketing in that area. I received a call from a motivated seller. She is in a nursing home(2 hours away & unable to show the property). She want's to sell her house that is 1 1/2 miles away from the major mall. The house is worth $50,000(Zestimate). She is willing to sell it to me for $20-$25k. I have like 3-4 cash buyers in the area. How should I finesse this?

[Robert Leonard]

The red flag that immediately comes up for me on this deal is the fact that you're dealing with a person in a nursing home. What is the person's capacity to make this decision? Unless the person is wealthy and has the disposable cash to pay for their care or a long term care policy, the home is usually an asset that has to be liquidated to pay for the long term care. The exception when the person doesn't have those means of paying for their care is when the property was transferred to an heir 3 or more years before the person entered the nursing home.

Dealing with a person in a nursing home is fraught with peril and I would be extremely cautious not to give the appearance of taking advantage of a person with limited capacity to make this type of important financial decision. In my state there are laws that allow the family to come back within a certain time period and take back property sold by an elderly person. Especially when the sale is below 50% of FMV - right in the range you are.