In this coaching‑style YouTube discussion, Rick, Speaker B, and Speaker C analyze a probate real‑estate scenario involving a recently widowed homeowner. The house is appraised at $1.25 million, with a $704 K mortgage and six months of arrears. The seller wants at least $1.189 million but is cash‑poor and equity‑rich. The participants explore possible solutions: (1) contacting the lender to seek a mortgage modification; (2) purchasing the property "subject‑to" the existing financing with the seller providing a carry‑back note; (3) negotiating the seller’s true cash needs, which may stem from probate‑related debts such as medical bills; (4) bringing in a private investor to fund any required cash up‑front while sharing upside. They stress the need for more information—exact probate debts, the seller’s required cash, and her ability to meet modified payment terms—before committing to any structure. The conversation ends with a call‑to‑action for the Smart Real Estate Coach platform.
Chapters
The situation we've got is it's a woman who lost her husband recently. The home is appraised for $1.25 million. She wants no lower than $1.189 million.
Oh, I wanted Derek to hear this. That's why I said bring it. Yes, this is good.
Yeah.
And I sent this— I forwarded this to Derek on Slack. Yep. So she has a realtor that she hates, but she's contracted until April. But he's willing to pay her out of pocket or on the back end. Um, she is in arrears 6 months. Um, obviously she's not gonna be able to refinance that to take equity out being that far in arrears. Um, she owes approximately $704,000. Again, her husband recently passed away and she can't handle the costs of the home and the probate process of what he left behind is taking an additional toll on her. So it was ideas on how to help her out. And my thoughts are get on the phone with her, with the lender, that you're a family friend helping her out and try to get a mortgage mod. But it all depends on what, as you mentioned, Chris, it depends what her husband left her in the probate process.
So yes, they could. They could force the sale through the probate. Well, I don't think they'll force the sale if she was current, but if she's in a foreclosure and then they could force the sale if there's a bunch of other debts to pay off in a probate. But let's, let's just talk it through and assume that there isn't a whole lot of debts. How much cash does she need? You know, from this, like she's got a bunch of equity. She's she's cashful poor and equity rich, right? So and and who was it? This was Philip. He's not on, huh?
Right. He's the immersion.
Okay. Gotcha. Okay.
So you can clip this, Rick, for him if you want. Just tell Ashley 10:43. Tell her 43 minutes in.
Okay. And so. You got to find out what her true needs are, first of all. So that includes how many— what debts are being included in the probate. You know, is there anything that's going to have to be paid off, basically forcing the sale of this home for cash? Because if it is, then that potentially takes, takes Philip out of the running. Let's, let's say that there isn't a whole bunch of debts in it. If she can get caught up or if she can get a loan modification, That, that we could take this over subject to and she carries back seller financing, then it's finding out how much in arrears, you know, how much cash needs to be brought to the table. One of the things that I worked with Abby on a deal on and we were looking at these different possibilities when somebody absolutely needs cash, like she may come back with, with saying, I need $100,000 cash to clear the probate. Okay. Well, if there's enough equity there and if we can buy it at a discounted price, because I understand, Rick, she's saying she needs— what was it, 1.18 or whatever the number was? Yeah, but we don't know why she needs that. Does she need that because she needs a certain amount to pay off some probate? Okay. A good example is medical bills. Oftentimes people have medical bills. You can go and negotiate medical bills down, or you can easily negotiate medical bills onto a payment plan. So perhaps Philip buys this property subject to the existing financing after it's caught up or modified and subject to $100,000 in medical bills. But if the medical bills can be paid $100 a month, Who cares?
Right.
That's one way. Another way is bring in private investor and give them a piece of the deal. If again, we're just going to stay with that $100,000 mark. If she absolutely needs $100,000 and at that point she is willing to sell it sub-2 and carry back the rest of her equity and, you know, on a note, then we need to have some margin there. So private investor is safe. and can get a return on their money. But we could, we could do that. So it always comes back to we need more information and we need to know what does she need, not want, because there's a big difference.
It's almost every deal so far today was we just need more info. Yeah.
And the other thing is, is if she's in arrears and she's struggling and she's not going to be able to afford the monthly payments for the mortgage mod, they're going to want to see X number of payments made on time.
Yeah. And for Kenchi, they're going to say they're going to want to know.
Yeah.
Not sure where to get started. Go to smartrealestatecoach.com/getgoing for free books, strategy calls, and a whole bunch more. We're going to help you get going the wicked smart way. We've been after this for over a decade doing exactly that.
This most likely— it sounds like a deal where there is going to be some upfront cash needed. It— I mean, we don't know that for sure, but that's the way it's sounding. And Rick, you know, I'm happy to get with you and Philip and we can, as he gets more information and we can try and come to a solution. But that's, that's where my head goes on the— based on what we know so far, that's what I can tell you.
