You Want To Owner Finance A Real Estate Sale And Are The Seller, The Buyer.

     Okay, owner real estate financed sales on say Maine land that you don't need the money from to buy another home are an excellent vehicle to carry the note, to offer terms on. It makes a nice annuity fro you the seller, and the payments are custom made for the budget of the buyer. No bank overhead closing costs, credit checks, appraisals. The closing can happen in a week, after the title is examined and the first mortgage/promissory note are whipped up to review by a competent attorney. In Maine, land contracts or seller financed sale land is huge. The buyer may put a drilled well in, set an amish building, install a septic. He agrees not to harvest timber, not to resell part or all of the property without paying off the mortgage. He agrees to make the payments on time, not to get behind on taxes and to keep the property condition up to snuff. The pitfalls?

     As a Maine real estate broker, my ears come up when a buyer starts with "To be honest with you, my credit is in the toilet, I am upside down financially and need a break. They further spill the personal beans about the divorce that is messing and will drag on for a few years. They don't want to put any money down and the payment they want is so large they won't make it but it sounds good to get their foot in the door. Foreclosure is expensive, and if they go ahead and clear cut the timber, dump nuclear waste on the property, you the seller are taken for a ride. You are back pedaling and wishing you did not finance or carry the note.

     Rule of thumb. Get a down payment, as big as you can. Make the interest rate a healthy one to make it worth while for you./ Have a lawyer put in the bullet proof language to cover all the what ifs.

     You would be a good risk to make an affordable payment based on your current budget right? You only hear about the wing ding loser seller financed sales. And the buyer usually tells you he is kryptonite, poison to offer terms too but you get sucked in just the same. That's your own fault on a seller financed deal destined for failure from the get go.


Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers - Maine, Get Here Just As Quick As You Can.