Owner Financed Homes: What You Should Know
February 18th, 2009 | by admin |If you want to purchase your own home but do not have the deposit or meet other criteria to obtain a mortgage from a traditional lender, owner financed home may be a solution to your dilemma. Rather than continuing to pay rent to a landlord who benefits from property ownership, you can build wealth yourself. Every home payment you make brings you one step closer to owning your own home outright.
The way owner finance homes work is that instead of borrowing from a bank or mortgage finance company, the seller of the home can actually finance all or part of the purchase price. While partial financing is more common – if you lack funds for a deposit, for example – 100% financing may be possible depending on the terms the seller is willing to offer.
If you’ve been searching real estate listings and advertisements, chances are you haven’t come across many owner finance home buying opportunities. This doesn’t mean they don’t exist – you just need to be creative in knowing how to approach a seller with an owner financing proposal. This is more likely to work if a home has been sitting on the market for a while and the seller isn’t willing to lower the price in order to sell. In cases like these, the owner might be willing to consider financing all or part of the sale price – the only way to know is to ask.
There are also sites on the Internet that specialize in the owner finance homes market. Do be aware that even though you won’t need to meet the stringent standards of a conventional home loan, you will need to prove your creditworthiness and ability to pay before most sellers will consider owner financing. Also, you can expect your house payments with an owner financed home to be higher than what you would pay with a traditional lender, but if you have the ability to make these payments, owner finance homes can be a means to an end if you can’t get any other kind of financing. After you’ve built a solid payment history, you can always refinance with a traditional lender later on for a lower interest rate.
One of the most important things to do if you are considering buying an owner finance home is to hire an attorney to go over the contract and any other pertinent paperwork. You need to clearly understand what you are agreeing to, and you will want to make sure there aren’t any stiff pre-payment penalties that would prevent you from refinancing down the road. Understanding your rights and obligations is very important before signing a contract.
Owner finance homes provide seller with the opportunity to quickly sell a home at the price they’ve set. But, buyers need to realize that the seller isn’t doing you a special favor. It’s important for buyers to exercise caution in evaluating any type of seller financing. All of the steps you would take for buying a home with a traditional lender, like a building inspection report and professional survey, should be undertaken.
It is important to proceed carefully, even though you may be eager to seal the deal quickly in your quest for homeownership. Owner financed homes can allow you to become a homeowner, but don’t rush – make sure you aren’t buying a problem home or succumbing to a predatory loan contract. Treat owner finance homes with caution, and make sure you do your research before signing on the dotted line.
With careful planning and research, an owner financed home can create a path to homeownership when other avenues are not available. If you have a long term plan for your success in buying an owner finance home, you can switch to a traditional mortgage later on when circumstances allow.
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