How to Profit by Assigning "Subject To" Purchase Options to Mortgage-Challenged Buyers

 For those looking to get into real estate investing in today's market, there is a unique way to profit without needing cash or credit, and without the risks or headaches of owning rental properties. In this article, I will show you how you can place unsellable homes under contract subject to the existing mortgage, and then assign the contract to a buyer who has not been able to qualify for a mortgage. Your profit is on average about 5% of the purchase price.

This is NOT Mortgage domyassignment

One of the latest crazes going around the internet now, and many investors' email boxes, is a concept called Mortgage Assignment. To those who may not be familiar with this, it sound like you are just assigning a mortgage from one person to another. Keep in mind that this is not the same as a mortgage assumption where the lender legally transfers the liability from the seller to the buyer. Rather, a mortgage assignment is no more than assigning the payments to the buyer, while the seller keeps the mortgage in his or her name. In the Mortgage Assignment program, the underlying transaction is still a sale subject to the existing mortgage. In either case, the seller of the property is still on the hook, credit-wise, if the mortgage does not get paid. What you will be doing is to find sellers who are willing to sell their property subject to the existing mortgage and market that property to a buyer who has some cash, but who can not qualify for a mortgage in today's tougher underwriting standards.

Why You Don't Need to be a Real Estate Agent

One of the first questions that comes up is how can you do this without being a real estate agent? Well, it is simple. What you will do is to get the seller to agree to you placing a purchase option on their property.You now have an equitable interest in the property. You will be marketing your interest in the property to other buyers. This is no different than marketing your own property to buyers as FSBO.

Understanding "Subject to" Deals

In a "Subject to" or "Sub2" deal, you are buying the property subject to the existing financing. This means that the existing mortgage will not be paid off. If there is equity in the home that the seller wants to cash out, either the buyer would need to have the cash available, or the seller can agree to carry the payments in the form of a second mortgage. Typically, a Sub2 deal is done when there is little or no equity in the property, because the seller can't afford to either pay off the mortgage at settlement, or pay any fees and commissions, or both. The alternatives to this are a short sale or a foreclosure, and neither of those are easy or pleasant.

The biggest issue that one faces with Sub2 deals is something called the Due on Sale Clause. What this means is that when the property is sold, the lender has the right to call the mortgage due, meaning the buyer would then have to refinance the property of the seller faces foreclosure. However, from the experience of almost all Sub2 investors, not once has a mortgage been called due on the sale. Many gurus teach all kind of tricks to avoid the lender being notified about the sale, including a Land Trust and Contract for Deed, but others will teach you to just be upfront with the lender and don't lie or hide anything. The way a lender usually finds out about the sale is not when the new deed is recorded, but when the homeowner's insurance policy has a new owner. In my Find and Assign package, I explain the due on sale clause in more detail and why it is not something you need to worry about.

The Seller's Dilemma

Right now the market is perfect for doing Sub2 assignments. Many homes are now underwater, meaning the seller owes more on the mortgage than the house is worth. There are sellers who can no longer afford the payments on their mortgage and are either struggling to make the payments each month or are behind in their payments and are facing foreclosure. In Find and Assign, I have a matrix that shows the various options a seller has on getting rid of their property, along with the costs of each. If you are able to show a seller how he or she can walk away from their property and making the mortgage payments without affecting their credit, you have a motivated seller, and one who would be receptive to your offer.

The Buyer's Dilemma

In the past, all you had to do to get a mortgage was to fog a mirror. This means you simply had to be alive! Banks and mortgage companies gave out loans to anyone who could fill out an application. There were no-doc loans, stated income loans, and loans for subprime buyers. Down payments we as low as zero. Flash forward to today. Now, you need to prove your income, provide two years of tax returns, bank statements, and have a credit score north of 680. What we have now are buyers who a few years ago could get a mortgage, but now who can't. So, you are in the perfect position to sell unsellable homes to unloanable buyers, all by simply getting the seller to do a purchase option subject to the existing mortgage and assigning this agreement to a buyer for an assignment fee. The new buyer gets the deed at settlement, and pays the closing costs.

Finding Sellers

There are many ways to find sellers, including posting ads on Craigslist and newspaper classifieds. A sample ad can say "We buy homes with little or no equity. Get out from making any more mortgage payments." One fantastic way to find sellers is to call real estate agents and ask them to provide you with leads of those who want to sell, but who can't because they can't come up with the cash to go to settlement. You can offer the agent a referral fee. If the agent is honest and says that he or she can't accept a referral fee, you can still legally pay the agent by having the agent become your buyer's agent. When you get the house under contract and then assign the contract to the end buyer, at settlement the agent would receive their legal commission, depending on what you agree upon. In Find and Assign, I go over many other ways to find sellers for the Sub2 Assignment program.