799 » Be the Bank – Creative Deal Structuring with Nick Legamaro

My guest grew up in St. Louis on The Hill, the Italian neighborhood of the city. He now lives in the Dallas area and does some really creative deals. He started doing this in 2011 when the market was emerging from the big recession. Nick’s company buys, fixes and sells. No big deal, right? However, sales are not retail. They finance the home for the seller. They underwrite the buyers, which translates to them becoming the bank. There’s a big need for that because there are more self-employed workers now that have a hard time getting bank financing. Nick estimates that 50% of home buyers need seller financing at this time. That means that there’s a glut of houses listed by retail realtors because 50% of the market’s not even looking at those homes. Why look when you know you can’t get traditional financing? Nick rehabs houses to move-in-ready condition while keeping the homes affordable. A $100,000 house is his sweet spot with a cost basis of 75%. He asks for a down payment of 10% and 9.9% interest. That interest rate sounds high, but it’s allowable. At the $100,000 price point, the monthly payment is approximately the same as the owner would pay for rent. But homeownership gives the buyer tax benefits, the ability to sell the asset and pride of ownership. Nick holds the buyer’s note for a while and then sells them to investors. His personal note on this transaction is at 7 or 8% on $75,000, so there’s the profit. Nick once did a deal in which the seller insisted on getting $100,000 for the house, which was a retail price. Nick paid it, with $10,000 down and $800 a month… no interest. The seller got his asking price, and Nick wrapped the underlying debt into the 30-year note when he resold the house. The buyer paid $975 a month, which more than covered Nick’s $800 monthly note. So Nick paid off the note sooner than its due date. He owes no money on the house himself but is still receiving $975 a month on it. If the owner were to default (which he hasn’t), it’s less of a headache to Nick because he no longer owes on it. Nick’s notes do not vary much from the mortgage paper that a major bank writes. His Dodd-Frank requirement is to prove the buyer has the financial capacity to make the monthly payment. Nick’s willing to loan to people who have an ITIN (International Tax Identification Number) instead of a Social Security Number are self-employed or who don’t have a great credit score. Often a low credit score simply means the borrower operates in a cash economy. The key is to keep the mortgage payment and the rent payment the borrower is used to paying very close to the same amount. Nick finds his deals from sellers pretty easily because he can afford to pay more for the house since he’s financing the deal, which brings in the bulk of his earnings. He buys from the MLS and wholesalers. What’s inside: —Nick’s model adds speed to the sales process, and he profits by that speed (not by gouging). —The model fully complies with Dodd-Frank based on disclosures and buyer qualifications. —In real estate, hitting lots of singles is more profitable and less stressful than searching for home runs. —In 2018, $26 billion dollars was used for seller financing; that’s retail, land, and commercial.