Selling Real Estate Notes

Most of us understand what a mortgage is. We borrow money from the bank in order to purchase a property today. But what is a real estate note? A real estate note is sort of a mortgage to a non-financial institution. A note can be generated complete with details on monthly payments, interest rate, and clauses to protect both parties in the deal. The note is then registered at the local courthouse, giving the lender the power of foreclosure if the grantee fails to fulfill the commitment he has made in the note. A lot of times, the lender never wanted the note in the first place, they wanted cash. Many of these note holders are willing to sell these notes at a steep discount.

It happens to us all, we need money for medical bills, send our kids off to college, or maybe just want to make a better investment with cash we don’t have right now. Many note holders are unaware that their notes are worth cash today to investors. In fact, real estate note investing is becoming more and more popular in the financial world.

A true asset to real estate notes are that they are secured with the actual property. With real estate notes the investment is clear and it is insurable and value can be added unlike stocks and bonds. Such an investment has proven to be quite fluid as well. Many people resell the notes they purchase for even greater returns. Many investors look for such opportunities from “for sale by owner” real estate sales. Notes do not have to be sold right away, in fact many note sellers will sell their note no earlier than twelve months after it was issued.

Here is what you would need to do to sell your note: You will need to find either a mortgage not buyer or a note broker. A note broker may be the best route as he will often find the best bid for your note at no cost to you. Selling to the note broker, will benefit you in that they will handle any paperwork that needs to be dealt with for the transition, will find the highest bidder (because they make a commission on the note sale). The broker or the buyer will probably ask you to submit copies of the note, or ask you for information on the note.

You need to contact several mortgage note buyers and request a quote. They will probably ask you to submit copies of the deed of trust or mortgage, the note, title policy, and closing/settlement statement. If there is no recent appraisal or title policy available, they may be ordered at the note buyer’s expense, and the note will then be appraised before any offers are made on it. Your note will be evaluated with a number of aspects considered. Such as the equity on the note, payment history, credit rating of the buyer, terms of the note and the remaining balance.

Selling Real Estate Notes