Originally posted by Mitch Freed:
Why should the lender get anything? Consider this...you contract a short sale...say you get an option to purchase...previous homeowner moves out..maybe they move on and go rent somewhere else..or take a job in another city. The house either sits vacant or you do something with it. The previous homeowner doesnt care what you do with the house because they have moved on..the mortgage is their responsibility anyways and they haven't madea payment in several months. So you, the investor, contracts a month to month lease while you negotiate a short sale (which we all know is no quick process) 3 months later you collected rental income, the utitlies got paid, the house didn't sit vacant and exposed to vandals and squatters etc... You mean to tell me that the lender you are convincing to short sale the property is entitled to rent??? You are marketing the property for a higher dollar amount than that you are convincing the bank it is worth...should you share your end profits with them too? I think not.
I haven't done this but I have had friends that have...I also have friends that have lived in houses like these...got a pretty good discount on monthly rent as well.
Mitch...Mitch...Mitch!
Why would you want to get so entrenched in a messy situation? Have you ever been a landlord? 25 years of it myself. I've seen ALL the scams. Trust me the few dollars you would profit would not be worth the bills for the stress you will incur. Let me give you 3 simple scenarios, just to ponder on.
1. The tennants won't let you show the property?
2. The tennants destroy the property?
3. The tennants won't leave the property?
You can have all the paperwork in the world authorized by anyone you want to authorize it, but I've never seen any paperwork stop the intentions of those 3 items by a tennant if they want to play "hard ball".
Mitch...the money's just not worth it. Please don't do it.
Mike