You can sell home with seller financing, but do research
Q : I want to retire and sell my house with seller financing. This gives me a 30-year income.
Why is this a bad idea? A : It’s not, provided there is no inflation and you can find a buyer who never wants to prepay the loan if he sells the house and wants to pay off the loan. People often do this by selling their house to a child who then provides for them in their old age. This is a very personal decision, so think through this with a financial advisor. Q : My son has recently purchased a house. However, he’s an addict and can’t handle that responsibility. Can I just have him convey it to me, assume the mortgage and let him continue to live there? A : Who says he can’t handle the responsibility? Is he under a psychiatrist’s care? Has he been judicially determined to be incompetent? If not, we suggest you tread lightly here. You can do it, but you need the lender’s approval to do so. Q : My spouse and I are divorcing. Who gets the house? A : Get thee to a divorce lawyer quickly. This is no time to save on attorney’s fees. This is probably the biggest investment you all have made, and the rules for community property rights can be complicated. All of these situations can start out amicably, but seldom end up that way. Q : Hurricane Harvey took three of my rental houses. Can I make the tenants continue to honor their lease and keep making payments? A : Put yourself in their shoes. They have an uninhabitable residence they didn’t bargain for. Landlords have an obligation to provide habitable premises under Texas law. Give them a rest and you go fix up these houses. This is part of the thrill of being a residential landlord. Q : I have decided to sell my home. I have an area that is a large closet, and I have stored my wine there while I have lived here, always referring to it as my “wine cellar.” My real estate agent says I can’t refer to it as a wine cellar since it isn’t cooled and humidified. Is that right? I thought this would be a great marketing tool. A : It depends on your real estate agent. They may be worried about this marketing tool being a misrepresentation. If someone is looking for a house with a wine cellar, this may not be what they are looking for. Real estate agents also have advertising rules that may come into play here, if the advertising is considered misleading. Have a good discussion with the agent, but we think they are just being cautious.
To send a question visit www.AskGeorge.net and select the “Ask A Question” button. Answers to questions do not contain legal advice. If you wish to obtain legal advice, consult your own attorney. George Stephens is the broker of Stephens Properties. Charles J. Jacobus, J.D. is board certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in residential and commercial real estate law.