Having Your Real Estate Sale Work Out

By Gavin J. King

Banks are being more strict than ever with whom they lend money to, so if you are a home seller you really need to consider becoming the bank, and loaning our your own equity to a prospective buyer. How would that help, you ask?

Let us just say, for this example, you have sold a property that you have fifty thousands dollars in equity in. Selling the property and accepting that one lump sum may expose you to certain taxes and lower your profit potential from it. There are more taxes than the usual income tax and state taxes that can take your real estate profits, such as capital gains tax for one.

There are many rules that govern taxes like capital gains tax, so consulting with an accountant or other tax professional is really important in order to save your money and profits. It may seem counter intuitive, but loaning the buyer your profits from the sale may be the best way to limit your tax liability and generate some income doing so. Now, I do not recommend loaning the money back unless you have primary lien position, otherwise you can lose every cent you have in the deal in the event of a foreclosure by the primary lien holder.

By loaning on your own property, you have a very proactive opportunity in dealing with the home owners and can cut off any foreclosure by dealing directly with the borrower. If the buyer does get behind on payments, you simply go to them personally and express some empathy for them, then offer to take the property back through a deed in lieu of foreclosure. Most people do not want the shame and embarrassment of being foreclosed on, so they will iron things out with you, if for no other reason than to salvage their credit history. From there you can rent the property back to them or you can send them on their way and look for another buyer to sell it to. Buying a home is on the forefront of many minds, so loaning out your money on it again is not too difficult.

By helping your next buyer on your home, you can get another residual interest check and be in the same position you were in before you had to take the property back in the first place. By doing things this way you can make some easy money from the homeowner, but you will probably be refinanced out eventually.

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