The HOA is critical to any shared ownership situation.

(3) I get him paid up, and then we have a legal agreement that we "co-own" the house and he has to keep making payments, and if he doesn't, I can buy the house for a pre-determined price if he gets behind again - I read about this somewhere, but it's not clear how this would work to me I'm leaning toward (2), to draw up a legal document saying that he is selling the house to me, and at the same time, pay off the bank for him and get everything level so that the sale can go through and I have time to get conventional financing.

HuntMan,Can you give a couple of real-world examples of exactly what to ask someone to determine whether or not they're motivated?

This is done to quickly determine and resolve any occupant issues, secure the property (No Trespassing), halt code violation fines, and as important, to prevent further deterioration of the property, and to rectify any public safety issues.

I want to see what the property values are now and in the past so I can get an idea of the apprecition in the past to try and determine what it could be in the future.

Equitable interest comes into focus in many cases.A trust might not be something that a mortgage company will view as ownership when it comes time to refinance.

Also, a followup question: With this situation -- a seller would give up his equity if I assume his loan and let him walk from the headache of absentee ownership -- Is there really any room to negotiate price?

They then sell a portion of that benefical interest to a buyer so who will now have let's say 50% ownership with you in the trust.

Depending on how the condo docs are written can determine what you can or can not depreciate.

There are loans that serve the purpose you seek in conventional, hard money and ARV based versions that would allow you to roll in the cost of purchase + rehab + closing costs (and in some cases, monthly payments) with as little as 10% down (the ARV loan would be an exception to this guidance).You haven't shared enough info about the property, tenancy, cash flow, etc. to determine what direction you should take, but you might want to review your financing options before using your home equity for the down payment (you are going to need cash reserves to find rehab in lieu of reimbursement).