All Forum Posts by: William D.

It's a great idea. However, I believe many states have statutes that don't allow you to contract around certain rights tenants have under the law. Thus, you may put an arbitration clause in a lease and spend the time and money arbitrating only to have the result not be binding on the tenant and you have to evict them anyway.

Without researching the issue, the first thought that jumps into my mind is a 99 year lease for 50% of of the fee simple. Effectively you are 50% owners but legally you are the owner (also for tax purposes-- i think). I AM NOT A CPA.

Not sure what the objective is and exactly what the competing interests are or how they blend but in terms of structuring it is the first thing that jumps out.

Before you spend anymore money on recording fees you should talk to prospectively to whoever will do your closing --, i.e. attorney or title company and see what they will want.

Educate yourself on your state's foreclosure process. This way you can at least gauge where you are in the timeline. If it is about to go to auction or judgment or hasn't moved in a year you will know the probability of your strategies succeeding. If you have time you may be able to do exactly what Jake said and do a short sale with the owner (which is your best shot).

I don't mean to come off as too critical but given the players mentioned there is almost no chance you can make direct contact with a person who can give you private access to buying the property once the bank takes title. One of the big reasons is that it is nearly impossible to determine who the investor/beneficiary is of the loan. It could be a JMP serviced loan on behalf of Fannie Mae. Any offers made will fall on deaf ears and you will be just wasting your human capital.

Stephanie, first off, good luck with your hearing. I have never done an eviction in NC but have done hundreds in my lifetime. Generally, the court through some formal or informal mechanism encourages settlements. So, be prepared to make a good faith offer or be able to argue why an offer which results in the tenant staying is not reasonable given the circumstances.

As a pointer for preparation, be able to prove each allegation of your complaint. Whether it be your ownership of the unit, breach of the rental agreement, etc. Most of the time you can prove this by your own testimony; however, in the event of a dispute it helps to have evidence. Normally, the tenant has been defaulted procedurally but it always helps to have an idea in your mind how you would prove each allegation in the event the court "gives both parties their day in court".

You have zero chance of sliding in an exclusive right to buy agreement from the bank in the context of a short sale purchase and sales agreement. Don't even waste your time trying to draft one or pay someone to draft one.

First, the contract is between the buyer (you) and the seller (homeowner). The contract is subject to the lender releasing their lien for less than is owed. This is the short payoff; thus the short sale. The bank is not an actual party to the contract so the buyer cant obligate the bank on exclusively dealing with one seller.

Secondly, from the bank's point of view, they are forced to take a loss on an asset and have an obligation to accept the highest offer for their investors and mortgage insurers (assuming one exists). It makes no sense to obligate yourself to negotiate with only one party. What are they getting in return for your exclusive right to buy agreement?

I'd say it will make everything more difficult. You will need to have a motivated executor to get the ball rolling on a deal and submit all the required documents to the servicer (not saying its impossible).

You may want to check to see if it is a reverse mortgage. If I recall, there is a certain covenant in some reverse mortgages that require the the servicer to entertain an arm lengths purchase within a certain percentage of their BPO before you can foreclose. This may be the leverage you need to make the deal go through.

You can run into priority issues if you increase the PB without releasing the old DOT/MTG, executing, and recording a new one to reflect to the increase in PB. I don't think the law is completely settled but I have seen attempts by second position holders try to make failure to subordinate arguments against modified mortgages which were subsequently recorded after their lien.

Not to miller your thread but if anyone is looking for something intellectually stimulating this winter you can view online for free an entire semester of Professor Shiller's Yale Finance class. I don't have the link but it's easily found by Google.

The guy is brilliant and if you think about it you are getting like $7500 worth of education for free.

Brian, just my .02. All good advice above, it is really your choice whether you want to meet with an attorney for a residential lease. It truly is a simple form document. I would suggest you meet with one and make the small investment. You can probably make a good local resource (in the event you need something in the future) for a nominal amount of money.

If you don't go to an attorney: a few quirks about CT law is that the tenant has until the 10th of the month to pay the rent by statute (cant contract around) and attorney's fees must be specifically listed in the lease. Other than that you can really use any lease you find on the internet and modify its language.