Video Summary
I am considering financing the sale of my home. What should I be aware of? Under Florida, you’re required to – when you sell your home you can take back a note in mortgage. And you cannot take back a land contract as they have in other states, because Florida is a judicial foreclosure state that requires notes and mortgages, land contracts, agreements for deed, to be foreclosed upon. So, the first thing you need to understand is, what’s the remedy in the event the person fails to make the payment?
The foreclosure process and the cost of going through a foreclosure is in the neighborhood of $3500.00 to $5000.00 with the filing fees and the court costs, and that’s if the matter is uncontested. The time period to go through the foreclosure process is estimated to be about nine months, if it is not contested. So, that should be a major consideration. I do not suggest that you do owner financing unless you get at least 20 percent of the money down. So, if you’re selling the property for $100,000.00, you would need to have a minimum of $20,000.00.
If you’re selling property that is of lesser value, you need to be aware of the cost involved as far as foreclosure and the time period, because you won’t be getting any money. Also, you would have to pay back due taxes if you foreclosed and took the property back, and it’s very hard to protect your property from vandalism or malicious conduct by the borrower if you start foreclosure. So, all these should be considered as to how much of a down payment you should receive before you consider doing the owner financing. I’d be happy to talk to you about what kind of interest rate you should be able to receive, and as far as owner financing is concerned. You cannot circumvent the foreclosure process by escrow and deeds. You cannot do land contracts and not record them and simply tear them up and have the people removed, since Florida is a judicial foreclosure state.
So, if you’d like to explore owner financing, give me a call at 727-847-2288.