Posted by BobJ (Md) on July 23, 2003 at 14:45:03:
Is it for sale by owner, or listed? At the rates you listed, it has a cap rate of around 15%, which is pretty darn good. Personally, I’d be willing to go up to around $257k for such a property in my area, so I think there’s some margin for you to make a profit. I’d try to get it under contract, and on the contract after your name write “and or assigns”. That makes the thing assignable. Then sell (assign) the contract to your friend for an “assignment consideration” of a few thousand. They give you a check for your effort, and then they go to closing instead of you.
Alternately, if you don’t want them to know what you’re paying for it, get it under contract, then mark it up and sell it to your friend. You just need to find a real estate attorney or title company that can handle a double closing for you. Again, you don’t bring any of your own money to closing, and walk away with a check. The only difference is you’ll end up paying two sets of closing costs with the second approach.
BobJ (Md)