Creative Financing - or - Getting it Done!

Tomorrow I host an open house at 6070 East Lake Road in the Town of Owasco. This is a gorgeous home - very well built in 1992 and maintained since then. It has four bedrooms and three full baths. The first floor master is large enough for a sitting area with lake views; the bath has a jetted tub and huge walk-in closet. Upstairs there are the other three bedrooms - but wait! One has its own bathroom as well! Another master, that in another home would be the master. Add in 1.84 very flat acres, hardwoods throughout, dining room, living room, family room with fireplace, no maintenance decking on the front porch, close enough to Skaneateles (15 minutes), Syracuse (35 minutes), Ithaca (40 minutes) and Auburn (7 minutes) to make living in the country easy!

All well and good, but what about the price? We just reduced it to $310,000 - that's about $100 per square foot! The lot next door, about half the size, is on the market for $70,000.

So what we've got here is a great home, on a great piece of land, in a great location and the owners recopgnize that they need a buyer to take advantage of this great deal!

What is stopping people today? Money, of course. Other homes aren't selling, banks are being very judicious with their loans and not giving bridge loans really at all, and some people just aren't certain enough of their job situations.

The owners, being the brilliant people they are, therefore have devised several ways to make the house accessible. They will hold the mortgage for 15 years. Now when I heard that at first I was skeptical, having just completed a sale in which the mortgage was held by the owner. At 7%, that is. Who would take that rate unless it was commercial or there were credit issues?

"Oh no," the owners said. "We will beat the bank!"

They are offering 3.5%.

Not only that, they will take that mortgage even with a house to sell on the new buyer's side. Circumstances have to be right, but this is a possibility.

What about those job uncertainty issues? Rent-to-own! Go ahead! Rent this lovely home for two years and then buy it - maybe with owner financing again.

Creative - yes! I love it when sellers see the challenges of the market clearly and take steps to help themselves.

If you want to see this remarkable home, it will be open tomorrow, Sunday the 17th, from 1:00 until 3:00. The ML# is S241297. Come say hello - and tell me that you read about it on my blog!