I am often asked, "why would anyone ever sell to a wholesaler who passes the settlement onto another buyer"? Three stories of assignment successes:
Problem: Elderly gentleman in tax foreclosure, about to lose his house, and all he wanted was to retire to a mobile home by a fishing pond in SC. His house was worth about $50k. It was in bad shape. The market had turned soft and he didn't know how to deal with the attorney who was trying to take his house.
Solution: Charles Parrish and I put the house under contract for $42,000 and paid for advertising (about $800). We then, as contract purchasers, negotiated with the attorney, who agreed to stall the foreclosure for 60 days. We auctioned the property for $46k, made an auction commission, and a little equity. The Seller moved to his trailer in SC and is very happy.
Problem: A retiree didn't want to wait 120 days to sell her worn house on the market. I put this house under control for $152k
Solution: I paid $800 for advertising and sold it at auction for $154k. The home was probably worth $165k tops. A month later the owner retired to WV and is very happy.
Problem: Another owner in tax foreclosure was within five days of losing his investment property. He'd already lost three others and was out of work.
Solution: I intervened, purchased the house, purchased the tax lien certificate and auctioned the property. My acquisiton cost was $13,500 plus $8k I shared with the owner (instead of continuing the foreclosure and wiping him out). It sold at auction for $32k. The legal process took 90 days and I had to hold the owner's hand the whole way, but today, he is a locator for me in a redeveloping area of town.
The bottomline? We will coop with realtors on our side of the transaction, but from a sellers perspective assignment deals can sell faster - without cost to the seller - using assignments than if the person had used a realtor, paid closing and experienced the ominous "home inspection". This is most true in situations of distress.
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