All Forum Posts by: Terrance Merck

The most important thing might, at this point, be what is going on with his situation that is creating his desire to sell. He may be exchanging into a larger property, or he may be retiring, or he may just be a tired landlord and wanting to bail out. Each of these scenarios would present a different type of opportunity for you to help him out. Here's some ideas how:

If #1: He's doing a 1031 exchange. This means he has a very strict timeline between closing on the property he's selling and identifying (and closing) on the new property. If he finds a buyer (you?) who can be very flexible with a closing date, that's a BIG plus for him. You can agree on terms but leave the closing date open (within reason of course) so that he can get a new property found without stress.

#2: He's retiring. You may be able to arrange a seller financed scenario that allows him to spread his capital gains tax out over several years. This helps him, and it might also help you quite a bit, especially if he is willing tho carry the entire note for a few years. Once you've successfully run the place for a few years you'll probably find it easier to sell yourself to a commercial lender.

#3: He's worn out. If the property is underperforming you might be able to arrange a master lease option ( lots of good threads and articles on this on BP. Do a search if you are unfamiliar). He gets a steady income without the hassle of managing the property, you get a juicy value add opportunity.

I suggest starting with some of these more notional 'how can we work together" ideas before you jump into numbers. Obviously "how much were you thinking of asking?" and "what's the rent and what are you paying in expenses?" is appropriate because you need to know if it's a realistic price... but you get the idea.

If you have not yet read “Insider Secrets to Financing Your Real Estate Investments”  by Frank Gallinelli download it from Amazon and read it tonight ;)

Good luck! let us know how it goes