Fire Damaged Subject To.......What Do You Think About This One?
ok big situation here (why do i always get the situations?)......3 BR/2 BTH/2ST fire damaged house worth about $120,000 (ARV), owner wishes to sell for the balance of her mortgage which is about $85,000 (two months behind on payments, how long before foreclosure proceedings begin?) and I would purchase this property sub-to........but here's the dilemma........the owners said that they had an addition added on to the back of this home a few months ago, says that the contractor who worked on this home didn't do something correctly, they asked him to come back to correct, he refused, they wouldn't pay him the balance due him and so.........HE'S THE #1 SUSPECT IN THIS FIRE......the owners lost their 8yr old child and 16 yr old friend who was sleeping over that night in this fire...........she says that she and her husband have been tagged as suspects as well, in this fire (i don't understand why), they are fighting with the insurance company (for whatever reason) and they have no money, but still have to make the monthly house payment of $950.......thus, just wanting to be done with it.........(thereby VERY willing to deed the property over to me)..........what do you experts think about this?....too much drama?....and what about the rehab?.....any ideas on how i can fund this without coming out of pocket?.......creative ideas, that is......i would keep this as a rental (for now)(lease/purchase/option type thingie......i need help) HELP!!!! need all of it i can get....thanks in advance. 
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If the fire was bad enough to take two lives, how much are there in repairs? If the ARV is 120 and you're getting it for 85, thats a slim margin including repairs.
OH MY.....you had better have a very good attorney write this deal for you. Sounds like a can of worms. Do you really need the head aches.
Best of luck on this one.
Hey,
This is a bad idea on so many different levels....walk away.
First thing I would do is contact a reputable contractor with experience in fire damage repair and have them come out and give me an www.estimate.Make sure this repair is not the cheapest.
If the owner is in foreclosure get the owner to sign an authorization, you contact the bank and get it for a short sale. The damage that was done should really be a contributing factor to negotiating a short sale price especially since the insurance wont cover the damage. I definitely would contact a good attorney and get their advice. Hopefully the numbers will work out well enough to where you can at least give these people some money to try and give their lives a new start. After going through 5 extreme tragedies this year alone I know they need it. This is one scenario where I would go above and beyond. They have enough to deal with as far as the loss of their loved ones. In the meantime work your numbers and see how it will come out at different prices. I hear that the short sale calculator i saw for sale here on TCI is very good. I need to get one myself just havent had the extra cash.
Hope this helps
Benny
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