People sell real estate notes to raise cash quickly. A real estate note is just the loan document created when you financed the sale of your house or investment property. It could be a mortgage note, or a land-contract or contract-for-sale. The point is that the buyer is making payments to you, and you want to cash in.

You can sell the entire contract, or just a certain number of payments if you want. The buyer of your property will have the same terms and payments. He’ll just be making those payments to somebody else.

Selling real estate notes can be an intimidating process. You know you won’t get the full face value for your note, but will there be other fees you have to pay too? How do you know if the buyer is reputable? What is a normal discount on a note? Here are some guidelines to follow:

1. No upfront fees. If they ask, go someplace else. You should be able to find many note buyers who will check your buyers credit and give you a quote without charging you.

2. No other fees, with a couple exceptions. The buyer has already figured his expenses before making the offer, so there are only a couple fees you should have to possibly pay. First, you may have to pay for the title policy, if there are problems with the title that prevent purchase. Second, if the property appraises at less than the sales price, you may have to pay for the appraisal. You should only pay exactly what these cost the note buyer though.

3. Be sure that the note buyer gives you a written purchase agreement with the purchase price and contingencies. Ask questions about anything that isn’t clear.

4. The note buyer should check the credit of your property buyer upfront. Unscrupulous buyers can quote one price initially, and then lower it later, using the excuse of the property buyer’s bad credit score. This is called “bait and switch,” and it isn’t ethical.

5. Contact several note buyers for quotes. You’ll need to provide information like the type of property, sale price, payment amounts, current balance, etc. They should respond within a day or two.

6. When you get a quote you like, you’ll have to send copies of the Mortgage or Deed of Trust, the Note, the closing or Settlement Statement, and the Title Policy. If there is no recent appraisal, they will usually arrange for that.

7. Processing time varies, so ask. Usually, once you agree to the offer and send the documents (if done by mail), you can expect to receive a certified check or electronic transfer to your account within two to three weeks.

Get Top Dollar When You Sell Real Estate Notes

Notes with a balloon payment get a higher price. “Seasoned” notes sell for more too. Those are notes that have had payments made on them for a while. Some note buyers will buy new or “unseasoned” notes, but if you can wait until six payments have been made, you’re likely to get a much better price.

Higher interest rates and shorter loan periods will get you more money too. This is something to consider before you sell the house, if you think you might sell the note in the future.

You can sell second mortgage notes, and other second-place real estate notes as well. Note buyers will look at these differently though. The first and second place notes can’t add up to much more than 70% of the value of the property, or you’ll be looking at a steep discount

Discounts, by the way, will almost always seem steep. It is common for note buyers to pay 20% to 30% less than the current balance on the note. I’ll let them explain why. Suffice it to say, they need to make money on the deal, and you should be sure you have a good use for that cash before you sell those real estate notes.

How do you decide whether to sell your home (or land, farm, ranch, etc.) on your own or use a real estate broker? There are pluses and minuses to each approach. Let’s look at some of the key ups and downs. Only you can decide which approach has the most pluses in your situation.

Why go FSBO?

“FSBO” stands for “for sale by owner” and tells buyers you are not using a realtor to represent you. The biggest upside to going FSBO is you save thousands of dollars in broker commissions when you sell the property. This may seem obvious, but the savings are very real.

The downside to going FSBO is it takes your time to market and show the property. (You’ll need to prepare your property for sale in either case, but that’s a whole separate topic.) You also need to be familiar with how the real estate sales process works in your part of the country. It isn’t necessary to be an expert; just make sure you understand what things one must generally deal with in a real estate sales transaction.

Also, it’s important to have access to the helpers you need. Examples include a lender who is willing to qualify your prospective buyers, someone qualified and willing to draw the sales contract and a person or firm qualified to close your sales transaction. Fortunately, there are many lenders and settlement offices willing to work directly with the principals to a transaction. And, for the brave and hopefully, very experienced, there are on-line, fill in the blank, sales contracts.

Why use a broker?

Does the above discussion leave you feeling insecure instead of alert, thoughtful, and excited? If so, you probably want a real estate broker to sell your home for you.

Other instances when you may want to use a broker include:

1. Inexperience - If you have not had much experience buying and selling homes, a broker may be the answer.

2. Local Conditions – Are you aware of the unique issues of the geographic location? If you have bought and sold in Virginia (where termites and radon are concerns) and you are now planning to sell the one home you’ve owned in Colorado (where water and mineral rights might be on the discussion table), it’s possible you may want a broker.

3. Time, Time, Time - If your profession provides for you and your family very well, but takes up enormous amounts of your time, ditto.

4. If you have no notions about how you’d go about marketing your home using the Internet, magazines, newspapers, bulletin boards, brochures, signs, word-of-mouth, etc., a broker can get you the marketing exposure you need.

The Right Choice?

There is no one right choice. Only you can decide what’s best for you. Hopefully, this look at the pros and cons will get your mental juices flowing nicely. I hope your sale goes smoothly.

First a little story about buying investment property.

My wife and I stayed at a motel in Tucson for a week one winter. Our bill was for twice what it should have been, but since I already paid the correct amount in cash, I thought nothing of it. During our stay, we noticed that the lobby and swimming pool were unheated, and passed it off as frugality. A year later, however, when I read a news story about a new owner struggling to make the motel work, I realized what was really going on.

To prepare the motel for sale, the owner had been using the two most basic ways to inflate the appraised value: decrease expenses and increase reported income. Stopping repairs, turning down the heat, and quietly adding $100 in income to the books every day, might have increased the net income for the year by $45,000 more. With a .08 capitalization rate, that means the appraisal would come in $562,000 higher than it should have. Imagine the the poor guy who overpaid!

To avoid a mistake like this when buying investment property, you need to watch for tricks like these. You also need to understand the basics of appraising income property.

Valuation of income properties start with the capitalization rate, or “cap rate.” When investors in an area expect a return of 8% on assets, the cap rate is .08. The net income before debt service is divided by this to arrive at the value of a property. This is expleained further in another article, but the primary point to remember is that every dollar of extra income shown will increase the appraised value by $12.50 with a cap rate of .08 (Or, for example, by $10, if the cap rate is .10).

Avoid Dirty Tricks When Buying Investment Property

When sellers of income properties increase the net income by honest means, the property should sell for more. However, there are many dishonest ways, both legal and fraudulent, that are sometimes used. Sellers of houses may cover foundation cracks with plaster, but the tricks used by sellers of income properties aren’t about appearance. These tricks are about income and expenses.

One way income can be inflated, is by showing you the “pro forma,” or projected income, instead of the actual rents collected. Demand the actual figures, and check to see that none of the apartments listed as occupied are actually vacant. See if any of the income is from one time events, like the sale of something.

The income from vending machines is a gray area. Many smart investors subtract this from the net income before applying the cap rate, then add back the value of the machines themselves. For example, if laundry machines make $6,000, that would add $75,000 to the appraised value (.08 cap rate), if you included it. However, since they are easily replaceable, adding the $10,000 replacement cost instead makes more sense.

The other important tricks sellers play involve hiding expenses. These can include paying for repairs off the books, or just avoiding necessary repairs for a year. This can dramatically increase the net income, meaning you pay more for the property. It also means you have less income than expected, and deferred maintenance to catch up on.

Ask for an accounting of all expenditures. If a number in an expense category is suspicious, replace it with your own best guess. Then re-figure the net income.

Look at each of the following, verifying the figures as much as possible, and substituting your own guesses if they are too suspect: vacancy rates, advertising, cleaning, maintenance, repairs, management fees, supplies, taxes, insurance, utilities, commissions, legal fees and any other expenses. Do your homework, and avoid seller’s tricks when buying investment property.