Author Topic: Rent to Own Deal - 23% interest, <50% LTV, make 11k off 25k in 3 years! (PA)  (Read 8611 times)

tibberous

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 21
I have a commercial property I bought 2 years ago for $50,000 - I want to sell it and buy it back on land contract / rent to own. Basically, I need to free up part of the equity it, but I can't mortgage it or use it as collateral.

Here is what I'm thinking:

- I take my $50,000 building, and sell it to an investor $25,000, with the condition I can 'rent-to-own' it (they can't just buy it for half price and keep it - it can only be sold if I default)
- We sign a contract, outlining the sale and RTO terms. I get $25,000 at closing, minus taxes / closing costs. I pay $1000 a month for 36 months, AND property taxes - so an investor would make $11,000 off a $25,000 investment in 3 years, and the building would act as collateral until the contract was up, at which time I'd pay to have it transferred into my name

Is anyone interested? I really like my commercial property and don't want to sell it, but without money it's just sitting there. The property is a 17,000 sqft building on 9 acres - easily worth 40-60k.


ShoulderThingThatGoesUp

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3053
  • Location: Emmaus, PA
Why would the equity be worth that much to you? How bad is your credit that you can't get a loan for a better rate than 23%?

Also, where is this that 17,000 sf and 9 acres are worth nothing? Venango County? You can't buy vacant lots in Reading from the county for that little.

(ETA: For the record, 439 Spring Garden Street in Reading, 0.04 acres with road access and a building (!), is available from the Berks County Repository for $500 plus fees, making it about $15,000 per acre. And what a view!)
« Last Edit: May 13, 2016, 12:11:50 PM by ShoulderThingThatGoesUp »

tibberous

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 21
Why would the equity be worth that much to you?

I want to fix up the building and eventually run a business out of it. I think I got a good deal on it even at $50,000, plus I like the location - I rather pay some interest and keep it than sell it, possibly for less than it's worth, then have to buy another building later.

How bad is your credit that you can't get a loan for a better rate than 23%?

I'm about ready to file Chapter 7. Without going into everything, I had a breakup and am underwater on a 200k house - I just want a fresh start, while still keep my house (paid off) and being able to rto my building.

Also, where is this that 17,000 sf and 9 acres are worth nothing? Venango County? You can't buy vacant lots in Reading from the county for that little.

Mercer County. The building needs a little work - fixed up and rented out it'd be easily worth a few hundred thousand. I just don't need to borrow that much money - 25k seems to be the perfect amount that's big enough I can get caught up but still be able to easily pay back.

frugaliknowit

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1686
Not a lawyer, but I believe any equity in that property will go to the creditors in your chapter 7, but check with your bankruptcy attorney.

tibberous

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 21
« Last Edit: May 13, 2016, 01:49:10 PM by tibberous »

tibberous

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 21
Not a lawyer, but I believe any equity in that property will go to the creditors in your chapter 7, but check with your bankruptcy attorney.

Btw - I'll probably wait 90 days after I 'sell' this property to help avoid anyone crying foul. The ~20k I get is probably more of an issue than the property itself.

ShoulderThingThatGoesUp

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3053
  • Location: Emmaus, PA
Honestly I would be pretty surprised if there weren't some kind of law to prevent this kind of strategic asset-shielding.

dandarc

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5454
  • Age: 41
  • Pronouns: he/him/his
You might want to read this - particularly the part about fraudulent transfers:

http://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/bankruptcy/clawbacks-preferential-fraudulent-transfers.html

Not a lawyer, but I'd argue this was a fraudulent transfer - you're trying to hide assets from creditors with a below-market-price transfer.  Hitting a couple of buzzwords there.  Which means that the clawback period for voiding the transaction is no less than 2 years (according to the article).

You should probably talk to a lawyer or just avoid bankruptcy altogether if you can.

dycker1978

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 768
  • Age: 45
  • Location: Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
I don't know if this is ill eagle or not, but in my opinion it is immoral.  If you can afford to carry everything but you made a mistake buying a second property, then you made your bed.   

tibberous

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 21
you're trying to hide assets from creditors with a below-market-price transfer

The purpose isn't to hide assets, it is to take out equity to pay taxes and live, which I am allowed to do. Also, the 'market value' is really whatever someone will buy it at - if I paid $50,000, but no one will give me $50,000, then it's pretty hard to argue the market value is $50,000. I guess I used the term LTV incorrect, loan-to-what-paid might be more fitting.

$25,000 isn't a token value - it's a decent chunk of what I paid. I'm still not sure I'll even end up filing for bankruptcy - this deal might be enough to put me back on my feet, a lot depends on what clients I can find over the next few months - I just want to consider the worst case.

tibberous

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 21
I don't know if this is ill eagle or not, but in my opinion it is immoral.  If you can afford to carry everything but you made a mistake buying a second property, then you made your bed.

My mistake wasn't in buying the second property. I also don't see how it would be any better/different for me to sell my building, then end up renting a different building when I restart my business.

dycker1978

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 768
  • Age: 45
  • Location: Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
I don't know if this is ill eagle or not, but in my opinion it is immoral.  If you can afford to carry everything but you made a mistake buying a second property, then you made your bed.

My mistake wasn't in buying the second property. I also don't see how it would be any better/different for me to sell my building, then end up renting a different building when I restart my business.
The difference is hiding an asset that you own so it is not sold to cover the other costs during the bankruptcy.  Basically having someone else pay for your mistake.  In my mind this is immoral.   Sell the second property and the building and pay off what you owe. 

tibberous

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 21
The difference is hiding an asset that you own so it is not sold to cover the other costs during the bankruptcy.  Basically having someone else pay for your mistake.  In my mind this is immoral.   Sell the second property and the building and pay off what you owe.

If I did that, I'd ensure bankruptcy was my only option, and the creditors would still hardly get anything, because taxes would still get paid first. Me keeping the building and freeing up cash at least gives the chance I can restore my income and possibly avoid bankruptcy. If I do file bankruptcy, I'll get some legal advice from a lawyer. Whatever you feel is 'immoral', if people never went bankrupt/defaulted, the good 'moral' credit card companies would gladly lend people money at 50% interest until their minimum payment was the same as their monthly income - they play the numbers, just like everyone else. If you catch your house on fire by mistake, it's not immoral to file an insurance claim - same for bankruptcy, you try to avoid it, sometimes you cant, but that's part of what your %20 credit card interest goes to.

Anyway - Im not trying to start a debate. I was hoping to get some helpful advice, and that some of you guys getting %4 stock market returns would be interested in getting %23 real estate returns with less risk, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm just honestly dumbfounded that I can't find someone interested in this deal - it's $11,000 over 3 years to do basically nothing and have no risk.

Midwest

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1358
The difference is hiding an asset that you own so it is not sold to cover the other costs during the bankruptcy.  Basically having someone else pay for your mistake.  In my mind this is immoral.   Sell the second property and the building and pay off what you owe.

If I did that, I'd ensure bankruptcy was my only option, and the creditors would still hardly get anything, because taxes would still get paid first. Me keeping the building and freeing up cash at least gives the chance I can restore my income and possibly avoid bankruptcy. If I do file bankruptcy, I'll get some legal advice from a lawyer. Whatever you feel is 'immoral', if people never went bankrupt/defaulted, the good 'moral' credit card companies would gladly lend people money at 50% interest until their minimum payment was the same as their monthly income - they play the numbers, just like everyone else. If you catch your house on fire by mistake, it's not immoral to file an insurance claim - same for bankruptcy, you try to avoid it, sometimes you cant, but that's part of what your %20 credit card interest goes to.

Anyway - Im not trying to start a debate. I was hoping to get some helpful advice, and that some of you guys getting %4 stock market returns would be interested in getting %23 real estate returns with less risk, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm just honestly dumbfounded that I can't find someone interested in this deal - it's $11,000 over 3 years to do basically nothing and have no risk.

I'm not familiar with the building or the area, but with regards to the "no risk" part -

a) If the building isn't worth $25k, there is the risk the investor gets stuck with it.
b) If you default on the lease or RTO, see #1.
c) If the bankrupcty court intervenes, the investor could end up with a problem.

I do some real estate investing and when people describe a proposition as "no risk," I've typically found they fail to understand the risk.

If it's such a great deal, why not sell for FMV ($50k?), execute a lease at FMV, and execute a purchase option with the lease?  You might be able to get similar economics.  Not sure on the bankruptcy implications.

KarefulKactus15

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1283
  • Location: Southeast
I agree with all the comments.   

This deal sounds shady and wrong.  And your intentions, and the intentions of any investors you may receive will be forever documented on this forum. 

The "no risk" has also been discussed.          It would have been much more amusing if a picture or address to the property was included. Location,Location,Location....

tibberous

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 21
But with regards to the "no risk" part -

a) If the building isn't worth $25k, there is the risk the investor gets stuck with it.
b) If you default on the lease or RTO, see #1.
c) If the bankrupcty court intervenes, the investor could end up with a problem.

Ok, not "no risk", any investment will have some risk. A and B are the same point, and with any property there is always the theoretical risk that no one will ever want to buy it, at any price, until the end of time. This property has sold several times at auction though, and always with many bidders, and always for more than 25k. It's also a really short loan, so it's really unlikely the condition of the property can change - the 9 acres certainly can't. In the remote chance it didn't sell for 25k, it'll still sell for *something* - the 9 acres kind of guarantees that, buying land is like buying gold, it can go up or down, but it always has a lower limit.

Plus, after the first year, the property would only have to be worth $13,000 to protect against default; after the second it'd only have to be worth $1000 - but just by virtue of renting it, the value of it should go up.

And I'm not even sure I'm going to file bankruptcy, and I'm openly advertising this deal, with the stated purpose of trying to restructure my business, catch up taxes and hopefully AVOID bankruptcy. I only brought up bankruptcy because someone asked about my finances. Anyone can file bankruptcy - if courts were in the habit of trying to undo legitimate sales, no one could ever buy property off anyone, because it could have been sold in "bad-faith".

So yeah, there's 'some risk', but every investment has some risk. "Not investing" even has some risk, it's called inflation, and it's damn near certain. At least this is a real investment in a property, and land, with a solid return and exit plan.

Midwest

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1358
But with regards to the "no risk" part -

a) If the building isn't worth $25k, there is the risk the investor gets stuck with it.
b) If you default on the lease or RTO, see #1.
c) If the bankrupcty court intervenes, the investor could end up with a problem.

Ok, not "no risk", any investment will have some risk. A and B are the same point, and with any property there is always the theoretical risk that no one will ever want to buy it, at any price, until the end of time. This property has sold several times at auction though, and always with many bidders, and always for more than 25k. It's also a really short loan, so it's really unlikely the condition of the property can change - the 9 acres certainly can't. In the remote chance it didn't sell for 25k, it'll still sell for *something* - the 9 acres kind of guarantees that, buying land is like buying gold, it can go up or down, but it always has a lower limit.

Plus, after the first year, the property would only have to be worth $13,000 to protect against default; after the second it'd only have to be worth $1000 - but just by virtue of renting it, the value of it should go up.

And I'm not even sure I'm going to file bankruptcy, and I'm openly advertising this deal, with the stated purpose of trying to restructure my business, catch up taxes and hopefully AVOID bankruptcy. I only brought up bankruptcy because someone asked about my finances. Anyone can file bankruptcy - if courts were in the habit of trying to undo legitimate sales, no one could ever buy property off anyone, because it could have been sold in "bad-faith".

So yeah, there's 'some risk', but every investment has some risk. "Not investing" even has some risk, it's called inflation, and it's damn near certain. At least this is a real investment in a property, and land, with a solid return and exit plan.

If you sell below FMV with a purchase option, I suspect the court would argue it's not a legitimate sale.  Not a lawyer, but that's my suspicion.  If you received the full FMV (assume 50k), I assume that would get taken in the bankruptcy - Correct?  Thus the deal shields $25k of assets?


dandarc

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5454
  • Age: 41
  • Pronouns: he/him/his
Related question - is $25K really going to help?  A big chunk is going to back-taxes.  That doesn't help restart the income flow, unless maybe you're already garnished by the IRS.  Restructuring the business - how?  And how will that help the money start flowing again?

If bankruptcy is the only option if you sell the building and have $50K, how is half that amount going to help?  Seriously want to know the order of events where $25K and a vacant building = probable success and $50K with no building = certain failure.

tibberous

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 21
If you received the full FMV (assume 50k), I assume that would get taken in the bankruptcy - Correct?  Thus the deal shields $25k of assets?

No. If I filed bankruptcy tomorrow, then that is how it would work. The thing is, if I got $50,000 tomorrow (or $25,000, or whatever), I wouldn't file bankruptcy, because I wouldn't be "bankrupt". I could do the same thing I am planning on doing now - I could take that $50,000, pay my taxes, cover my cost of living, try and get back on my feet, and either succeed or fail, and then file bankruptcy.

The basic idea behind bankruptcy law is that you can't run up credit cards buying a bunch of stuff, then file bankruptcy and keep the stuff. No one files bankruptcy while they still have considerable cash/assets, or at least they shouldn't, they should try and get out of bankruptcy.

I'm hoping the first person who brought up bankruptcy was just trying to be helpful, but my thread has really gotten derailed, and the entire purpose of all of this is to free up cash to restart my business, not talk about bankruptcy.

dandarc

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5454
  • Age: 41
  • Pronouns: he/him/his
I'm hoping the first person who brought up bankruptcy was just trying to be helpful, but my thread has really gotten derailed, and the entire purpose of all of this is to free up cash to restart my business, not talk about bankruptcy.
You are the first person who brought up bankruptcy.  "I'm about ready to file Chapter 7"

That answered 2 questions:

1.  Why are you seeking out this kind of deal?
2.  Why can't you borrow the money elsewhere?

And raises others:

3.  How does this transaction impact your bankruptcy?
4.  What happens to the investor that takes the other side of this deal and tibberous files?
5.  Seriously dude?

tibberous

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 21
Related question - is $25K really going to help?

$25,000 will go further than you think. I'm a web developer, and am getting in work here and there, but I am trying to transition from corporate life to running my own business.

If I put $5,000 into catching up property taxes, $20,000 would give me months to try and drum up business. I'm getting little projects here and there, but it's just covering my cost of living - it isn't like there's much I need to 'buy', I just need some time and security to get my marketing in place and start finding bigger clients.

dandarc

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5454
  • Age: 41
  • Pronouns: he/him/his
You are a web developer.  I'm done with this thread:

What the fuck do you need a building for?  Sell the damn thing!

Seriously - sell take your 45K which will give you more than twice as long to drum up business.  In the meantime, get a job and stretch the money even further.

tibberous

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 21
In the meantime, get a job and stretch the money even further.

I'd rather look for someone to do this deal, or even find a decent-sized project - it sucks having $25,000-$50,000 in equity tied up and being unable to borrow against it.

All this is OT though.

If anyone has the money and is interested, please PM me.

dandarc

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5454
  • Age: 41
  • Pronouns: he/him/his
I know I said I was done, but one final tip:

This forum is not exactly the best place on the internet to solicit for morons when it comes to financial things.

tibberous

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 21
I know I said I was done, but one final tip:

This forum is not exactly the best place on the internet to solicit for morons when it comes to financial things.

Doesn't take a moron to know 23% is more than 4%. I don't even know what your point is in posting, but common sense should be enough for anyone to know this is a good deal - I'm basically taking a building I could sell right now for $25,000+, paying someone to transfer/own it, then paying them $11,000 more than they lent me, just to use their money for 2 years.


SKL-HOU

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 617
  • Location: Houston, TX
Is this a Nigerian scam??? It sure sounds like one. I think that is what the previous poster meant. Sure 23% is greater than 4% but even if this is a real thing, it is way too risky to even consider. You say it is not risky but of course you would say that, you are the one wanting the money!

tibberous

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 21
Is this a Nigerian scam??? It sure sounds like one. I think that is what the previous poster meant. Sure 23% is greater than 4% but even if this is a real thing, it is way too risky to even consider. You say it is not risky but of course you would say that, you are the one wanting the money!

Seriously? Nigerian scam? It's a real building you can see, my name is on the property record - have you ever bought or sold property? You have to do a hud and sign paperwork...

Will people actually not take a good deal because its good?

And it's "not risky" because it's back by real estate, not just "because I say"... shm...
« Last Edit: May 13, 2016, 04:36:57 PM by tibberous »

SKL-HOU

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 617
  • Location: Houston, TX
ok i know it is not a "nigerian" scam. My point was if it sounds too good to be true, it is. If you are on the brink of bankruptcy, why should anyone here trust you will pay them back? The value of the property keeps changing in your posts. One post you say easily40-60k, then you talk about even if it is not worth 25k, it is worth something. So which is it?
You are a web developer and you talk about working in your field but at first you mention owning your business out of this building, doing what??? Your story is not consistent and you are too pushy, trying to make people believe what a great deal this is. If it is that great, why not ask your family, friends, excoworkers, someone you know??

tibberous

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 21
If you are on the brink of bankruptcy, why should anyone here trust you will pay them back?

That's why it's a good deal - because you don't have to trust I'll pay you back. If I defaulted on the very first payment, all that would matter is that the building and land are worth $25000 or better, which they are.

Unless you actually sell it, any value is just going to be a guess. You can look that the purchase history, comps, land price, whatever, but it's not going to be 100% exact.

My point was if it sounds too good to be true, it is

People make stupid deals all the time. I've seen 100 acres farms sell for 300k when the gas rights are worth 1 mil, I've seen people buy 10 acre lots and sell the timber for more than what they paid - even my main house I got 13k under asking, because the people just wanted the cash. 

To me it's worth $11,000 to keep that building. It might be crappy terms for a loan, but $1,000 a month isn't that big of deal in the big picture - I might be on the verge or bankruptcy now, but 2 years ago I bought that building with $50,000 in cash.

I just wanted to make the terms good enough someone would want to do it. It's more than you'd make off any traditional investment, maybe less than you'd make doing something like house-flipping, but it's all less risk / work than house flipping.

SmallTownDA

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 16
This sounds like real estate fraud to me. Deliberately selling real property for well under market value to a stranger is very likely illegal. I can't sell my house to my friend for $1 and then rent-to-own it back even though it'd save me on property taxes. I would suggest consulting with a lawyer who specializes in white collar defense before attempting such a transaction. I'd also suggest you advise any potential investors to do the same.

As an aside, it seems hugely inappropriate to solicit investors on the forum as a whole and the Ask a Mustachian board in particular.

Retire-Canada

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8681
Someone facing bankruptcy can't afford to keep an unnecessary business property they don't need for the business they do.

- Sell the property at market value.
- Take the cash and use it to pay for your cost of living.
- Work out of your home developing websites or get a job and work from the company's offices.
- Pay off your debts.

Simplify your plans. Keep your costs low.

You can't afford $1K/month in business property rental + utilities and other costs for a web design business when you are close to bankruptcy.

If you really don't understand why someone on this thread isn't jumping at the chance to buy your property and run the deal you suggest than you need to go find a mirror and take a good long look at it. That's someone who is not going to succeed at their own business and should just get a job. That's not an insult - not everyone is cut out to run a business.

tibberous

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 21
If you really don't understand why someone on this thread isn't jumping at the chance to buy your property and run the deal you suggest than you need to go find a mirror and take a good long look at it. That's someone who is not going to succeed at their own business and should just get a job.

If your right, that is exactly why everyone should jump at it - because 3 months in, when I loose the building, whoever did the would be an eBay auction away from a big pay day.

I'm not a web developer because I want to be a web developer - the point of me starting a business and keeping the building is to eventually get away from programming. I don't want a job, I want a business, and not a sit-in-my-house and make websites business.

That's why I hate statements like "That's someone who is not going to succeed at their own business" - you don't know what my business model is, you don't know why I'm close to bankruptcy (nothing business related), you don't know what my skills are, or who I know professionally, or anything.


KarefulKactus15

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1283
  • Location: Southeast
There are many smart people on this forum.  They have all passed over this deal.   It is a HIGH risk deal, evident by the high interest rate your are willing to pay.

All of your post since you joined this forum have been trying to sell this property (except the one about moving). Did you come to MMM just to find someone with money? You found us, the people with money have all declared this a bad deal and provided other more logical options. 

Even if anyone was pondering it,   you have offered no evidence that supports your claim of the properties value.   I'm not interested, but If I was Id have the following expenses:

Title search $
Legal fees to ensure that what you suggest is legal  $$
Appraisal $

If all that came back clean (at my expense, I'm sure..) then maybe,  just maybe some moron would consider it.   But without proof of market value,  proof that this is legal and proof that you have rights to the property,  I doubt anyone in their right mind is going to be interested.

Right now your almost begging for the money.   If you had more supporting evidence, then maybe you could say your looking for investors.  Even with more evidence the MMM forum probably wouldnt be the correct place...



ender

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7402
The tl;dr details appear to be that you:

  • Are filing bankruptcy after divorce
  • Own a commercial property worth between $0 and $60,000
  • Cannot sell the property for what you think it's worth
  • Want someone else to take on all the risk
  • Will pay a 23% interest rate to take on significant risk
  • Are incredibly shady
  • Cannot convince anyone of the legality/ethicality of your proposition


tibberous

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 21
Kroaler, I didn't just join to try and do this deal. I did find it while looking for hard money lenders, but I thought it'd be a good forum because I've always wanted to get into real estate investing - I don't get why everyone thinks this is some crazy scam or something, rent-to-own is pretty common.

I'd pay title fees as part of closing costs. I don't see why you'd need a lawyer to see if buying a property or renting it was legal, but we would need to write up a contract, that we would both probably want to have a lawyer look at. Not sure what your attorney charges, but I'm thinking around $300 for each of us?

I thought about having the property appraised, but I honestly don't know much about commercial property appraisals. I guess I was hoping the 25k was low enough that someone interested could just look at the property and agree to it being worth that much.

The property is in my name, so if anyone is serious about possibly doing this deal, they can view it, view the purchase history, ect - I'd maybe even be open to paying for the appraisal, as long I knew if the appraisal came in over 25k they would move forward.

And I'm not "begging for the money", I'm just trying to get the deal done. I'm offering to pay $11,000 and put up my $50,000 building.

It honestly feels like, because I made the deal good, people are leary of it. Even you said, "It is a HIGH risk deal, evident by the high interest rate your are willing to pay." The interest rate is just high to attract an investor, because it's worth the extra money to me to keep the building. If I made the interest rate 7%, it wouldn't make the deal "low risk", it would just make it less profitable.

Vagabond76

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 225
  • Age: 47
  • Location: Destin, FL
This has to be the oddest thread I've ever seen on this forum.

The kind of deal is not unheard of in the world of business and real estate investing, but this forum is not the correct target audience.  I can tell by the questions.  They are all about why do the deal, clawbacks in bankruptcy, what is "immoral," etc.

OP has told us next to nothing about the property (other than its 17,000 sq feet on 9 acres in "Mercer County":  What and where exactly is this commercial building (there are 8 Mercer Counties in the US)?  What condition is it in?  Are the back taxes owed on the subject building or the house (or something else)?  If on the building, at what rate are they accruing and who will pay them?  What will next year's and the following year's taxes be?  What is this building doing now?

Given the lack of details, I envision some old decrepit warehouse that has sat vacant for years.  OP got an itching to become a "real estate developer" and bought it for the low, low price of $50,000 with the idea that he would fix it up to its previous glory or apartments, businesses/tenants would line up, and riches would fall from the sky.  Or he was going to raze the building and use the 9 acres for something else.  Then reality (and the county tax man) set in and OP found the costs exceeded expectations or he couldn't get bank financing.

Only after OP provides this information do I care how he plans to come up with $1000/mo for 36 months to pay the rent.

tibberous

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 21
But this forum is not the correct target audience.  I can tell by the questions

Unfortunately I think you are correct. I was hoping the board was more about 'investing', but the more I read, the more is seems like it's focused on being frugal and saving money.

I have all the info for the building, taxes ($2500 a year, which I'll pay), ect. I just don't see much use in posting it when no one here is interested or has the money.

And you are kind of right as far as the "real estate developer" part - the idea was to turn one section into my offices, but then lease out space for other offices or storage.