THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 10, 1994 TAG: 9412080303
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 26 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Landlords and Tenants
SOURCE: William Mazel & Albert Teich Jr.
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
In May 1989 my wife and I purchased a townhouse in the Western Branch area of Chesapeake.
Being young and very naive and excited about buying our first home, we went through the process without much thought about the home's future resale value.
The townhouse was a HUD home and the real estate agent suggested we bid approximately $3,000 more than the HUD asking price in order to win the bid, which we subsequently did.
We paid $52,500 for the townhouse and financed the closing costs for a mortgage total of $56,000. The first two years, the city assessment consistently dropped about $1,000 each year.
However, my wife and I knew that the assessment is usually much lower than the market value; therefore, we did not think much of the drop in value.
Recently, we decided it was time to sell. We contacted the real estate agent who was also selling other townhouses in our section.
After speaking with her, she told us that the current asking price for townhouses of our type was $49,500. We currently owe about $54,000 on our mortgage.
What would be the most painless way to sell our townhouse, other than running up credit cards to pay off the balance of the mortgage and closing costs?
Generally speaking, we do not answer questions that do not strictly deal with landlords and tenants.
But one way to handle your problem would be to find someone interested in buying your house through a lease with an option to purchase.
You would lease the property to your tenant for a period of years.
The tenant would pay the monthly payments on the house and the costs for repairs, upkeep, insurance, etc., and at the end of the lease period, the tenant would have the option of buy the house with credit being given for payments made during the rental period.
This is hazardous but it may be one way for you to dispose of the property and relieve yourself of a monthly payment at the current time.
They cannot give legal advice over the phone or by letter, but may use the questions in this column, which then become the property of the newspaper. MEMO: Albert Teich Jr. and William Mazel are real estate lawyers based in
Norfolk. Send comments and questions to them at Real Estate Weekly, 150
W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510.
by CNB