Purchase Contingent On Finding an Investor (Buyer)

[Brian Davis]

I was just wondering if it is possible to make an offer contingent on finding an investor ("partner") for a property. Say I have an off market seller and I propose to buy the house at x dollars only if I can find a partner (buyer) for the property within x days. Also add some verbiage about using the MLS to locate that investor (buyer). Are there any legal issues with a strategy like this? Any reason this can not be a contingency within a contract?

[Barry Pekin]

@Brian Davis,

You're probably pretty certain to get some people on here to call you a scammer, but I applaud your transparency.  The seller should always know exactly what you're doing.  They should know that you are wholesaling, and what that means.  If you're truly providing them a service, they probably won't care.  You're helping them out of a tight situation.

The first thing I would say, however, is that you should have pretty good confidence that you can find a buyer who can close on the deal quickly before you put it under contract.  This would be true if you were already networking with buyers and had a strong buyers list.  If you have no buyers and are just planning on doing an Internet search or something, then I think you need to back off and get your ducks in a row before making offers.  Do you have a title company you can work with?  Do you have contracts?  

That said, and while I'm not a lawyer, I think you can write anything into a contract that you want to, as long as it doesn't break any laws. Contracts always have contingencies in them. You could uncover things about the property during due diligence that would make it a deal you should run away from. So why can't you write a contract with an "I need to find a buyer" clause? Honestly, get involved with your local REI community. Attending meetings every chance you get. The local investors are going to have (a) a better understanding of what you can and can't do, and (b) advice as to how they handle things like this. Oh, and (c) is the best. This is where you are going to meet your cash buyers (investors/partners/buyers/...)