Alternatives to traditional financing

In our last post we covered how home and condo sales are at their lowest levels since 1991. One of the reasons is lending standards have tightened considerably. Generally speaking, loans these days require higher credit scores and more money down than the loans from a few years ago.

With tighter lending standards and fewer sales, some sellers are promoting options such as seller financing and rent to own financing as ways to attract more buyers. In fact if you take a look at this Sunday's real estate section, you'll see some advertisements that promote seller-assisted financing.

Creative financing can benefit both seller and buyer. The seller receives a monthly payment for a property that might otherwise go unsold. And the buyer gets his home at a rate and terms that would be hard or impossible to match through traditional financing.

How do you find sellers that offer creative financing? Some sellers are advertising creative financing right now. Others will be open to it - but you won't know until you ask. Some sellers will be open to discussions once you broach the topic.

Have a good one,

Dan Miller, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com