How to Be Creative with Financing? by:Ken Rolf
If you are a seller, you need to widen your pool of buyers to people who do not qualify for traditional financing as well
. Some options may be the following:Seller Financing
If you have equity, you may want to offer seller financing. With seller financing, the seller is the bank.
Assumable Mortgage
Other alternatives are checking with your lender to see if the buyer can assume your mortgage. Although most loans are not assumable, today some lenders may offer that as an option to a seller who is about to fall behind in their mortgage payments or who is already in default. It may make more sense for the lender to allow a buyer to take over the loan than have to foreclosure on the property. Average foreclosure costs to a lender are approximately $50,000 per foreclosure.
Lease Options
Lease options are a way to sell your home in a difficult market for a higher price because the buyer enters into a contract to lease your home with an option to buy it at a specific price in the future. Lease options are a great way for buyers who do not have enough cash or who have bad credit to own a home. During the option period, they can work on cleaning up their credit and qualifying for traditional financing or saving more for their down payment. Generally, the buyer pays an upfront option fee to you. A portion or all of the lease payments can be used as credits to the buyer towards purchasing the property. If at the end of the term, the buyer chooses not to buy the property, you just keep the lease payments, and you can continue renting the home to them or look for another buyer or tenant and enter into a lease option with them.
Creative Financing Options for Investors/Buyers
Finding traditional financing for your deals is getting tougher because banks have tightened their lending guidelines. So here are a few options that are available for getting financing if you dont have cash:
Private Investors or Hard Money Lenders
Private investors are individuals or companies that will loan you money on a short term basis quickly. They dont have to follow any strict lending guidelines like traditional lending institutions must do. Most are interested in the equity of the property and how quickly you can pay them back. You will have to pay a higher interest rate and points upfront, but the advantage is you dont have to fill out a lot of formal paperwork, go through credit checks and you get the money quickly so you dont lose your opportunity to buy the investment property you have found.
Seller Financing
You may want to have the seller finance the transaction if they have equity.
Assume Sellers Loan
Another option is to assume the sellers loan if the lender will allow it. This way you can save on some of the costs associated with a traditional mortgage.
Wholesaling
Wholesaling real estate means putting a piece of property under contract and assigning it to another investors/buyer. You receive an assignment fee from your investor/buyer for finding the property and securing the contract. The advantage is you dont have to close the deal yourself, and you make a quick assignment fee of approximately $5,000 so you can move on to the next project.
Being creative and thinking outside the box is what makes todays investor successful. Once you do enough deals and accumulate some cash, financing wont be an issue for you. But if you are just starting out or short on cash, you will need to secure financing ahead of time in order to do your deals and stay in business. Compiling a list of private lenders is a smart thing to do so you can contact them when you find a good deal and jump on it.
Today is the best time to buy real estate and take advantage of the buyers market. So having financing available is critical to your success. Just taking the time to plan ahead and get your financing ready will allow you to continue to grow your investment portfolio and give you the financial security and long term wealth you hope to achieve.
About the author
Ken Rolf is a real estate investor. Go to kenswholesaledeals.com for up-to-date educational tips and real estate deals My Short Sale Strategy by:Khayyam Jones Payday Loans No Fax No Credit Check: An Effortless Way to Get Easy Loan Oil Absorbents In The Workplace - How To Minimize Risk And Disruption by:Leonard Peacham Ten Ways to Create an Employee-centered Workplace by:Pat Lynch What You Need To Know About Wholesaling Properties by:Steve Teta Payday Loan No Faxing: Gives You The Freedom For Accessing Faxless Funds by:Tony Richards Recession: The Best Time to Outsource by:Victoria Phee Conducting Local And International Background Investigations In The Middle East by:Zafar I. Anjum Access to Personal Finance Is As Vital As Business Finance If We Are To Beat The Recession by:Derek Cooper Tax Deferral As An Investment Strategy by:Don Burham Unable To Get Mortgage Debt Relief? Be Ready For A Lawsuit by:Don Burnham Hedging What Is It, And It's Uses In Risk Management by:Dwayne Strocen Market Risk - Not To Be Ignored or Overlooked by:Dwayne Strocen