Very First L/O Deal
Okay, I've decided to jump out there and do this...I have a friend that 's moving out of country and has a condo with a tenant in it. He need $15,000 out of it so he can purchase a home. FMV is $55,000 and he has a loan for 35,000. Mortgage w/ taxes and insurance and condo fee is 480/month and monthly rent is 650= $170 in positive cash flow. How do I get this property without dishing out $15,000 out of my pocket ? Condo is next to a major university, and it's in good shape. You guys are so helpful, and I rather not go this alone until I'm comfortable! 
Thanks in advance for your ideas....
You could offer a land contract, do a leae option on the house, equity sharing. There are a number of possibilities
[addsig]
if the seller (friend) needs the cash and there is a renter in place i do not see how a lease option would work. do you have any other option to borrow the 15k? you will have the positive cash flow to pay it back. this may seem like defeating the purpose but remember you are still building equity and gaining tax advantages by having your side business. perhaps you can approach a lender for a new mortgage. even an investor mortgage with 20% down would be 10k, less than your friend needs. also if the fmv is really 55k you may be able to get the loan at less than 20%. these are just my thoughts but i think 15k down on a 50k deal is to much. don't let this discourage you there are pleanty of deals out there. we just bought a 65k deal with 10k down so the deals are out there.
good luck :-D
Could you see if the current tenant wants to be a tenant/buyer?
She definitely does want to be a tenant/buyer. She's repairing her credit, and she can probably buy it cash in a year or 2....