Life Estate
what do you all think of buying a condo subject to a Life estate? I'm not very familiar with this concept and I'm not sure what the implications of buying property under these conditions might be! Help please!
gsrgirlie,
A life estate agreement is an arrangement whereby you transfer title to a personal residence, farm, or yacht to whomever or whatever while retaining the right to occupy and otherwise enjoy the full use of the property for your choice of a term of years or the lifetime of one or more individuals.
Are you planning on letting the seller live in the property for x number of years?
John $Cash$ Locke
Well, the tenant who is living in the apartment is 90 years old and she has the right to live there for the rest of her life. If I could get the aprtment for 50 -100K below market value because of the conditions do you think that this would be a good deal? The location is excellent and it is a fast growing area.
With the seller of the LE being that old, I'd sure advise you to have her lawyer witness her signature to the deed & agreement, also insert a clause to the effect that she's in excellent mental health & understands the legal implications of her actions, etc.
Since you're buying this at a tremendous bargain, spend some money to have your lawyer help you with this, in order to prevent any subsequent attacks by her family claiming you took unfair advantage of her.
And remember if all the old woman owns is a LE, somebody else owns the title & they have to sell their interest also in order for you to get good title.
Thanks for the great advice! Now to find a lawyer. The other problem that I just found out is that the person selling is not allowing us to view the apartment
The other thing that concerns me are the problems that I might encounter if I try to refinance due to the life estate. Do any of you know if this would be a problem? :-?