The Nightmare Property

At first glance, it looks like a great investment and prospects of a fantastic gain are everywhere. You’ve got a great house, very good looking, everybody who sees it loves it. It's in a very promising area, you’ve got the deed on it, and you’ve been trying everything you know of to either get a tenant buyer, under a owner finance, a lease option, a straight purchase, anything. Lots of people love it, people just don't have the money.

Initial response might be to go back to the seller and either deed the house back to them or to have them come down on the first mortgage. Or to come down on the second mortgage if one exists. The first thing you need to do is get the right attitude… that you're gonna fix this problem and not cave in and give it back to the seller.

Some may feel that even asking for 3% plus the first months rent is normal. But if you are in an area where the homes are appreciating, but the average tenant is looking for a certain amount for a monthly payment, getting these two to match up may be more difficult that what you may think.

Advertising something like this may prove difficult. You can put out signs, but sometimes you may end up dealing with mischievously kids pulling them down. Sometimes there are homeowner associations that prohibit this action as well. If they're not gonna leave your signs up, so be it. But they can't stop you from mailing post cards and or letters in the neighborhood. In any even, you have to work around these factors to get the desired outcome. You may have to spend some time digging deep to find out what the problem is.

One of the first tings you can do is to switch to a lease purchase option instead of renting. This should attract a different kind of buyer, one that interested in getting into the house but may not have the money upfront to do so. This is also affective if you have many individuals in your area that want to rent, but the average renter don’t want to pay more than a certain amount monthly.

But remember that the last thing you should do is be talking about the money. You should let the market tell you what its got, both monthly and down payment. When the time is right, and if you see the need, consider coming down a little on your down payment as well.

When the right buyer comes along, set the right expectations and remind him/her to bring the earnest money with him. And don’t overlook common sense, it doesn’t pay to put someone in the house as a tenant who’s not going to make the payment. It’s better to have the house vacant than to deal with the problems that come with that.