When purchasing you are buying a business, real estate, residence, operating equipment and inventory! It's a great package deal.
Rita Rathburn, partnering with Traverse North Realty has had over 20 years experience working closely with buyers and sellers, and successfully initiating a sale of resort business properties. Having sold many properties in the state of Michigan, she has acquired the expertise to work through the details with buyers, sellers, lenders, appraisers and the closing process. Because we offer lower commission rates for the sellers to pay for the sale of their resort property, there may not be a co-broker option for buyers agents. Although we will pay a referral fee to a licensed real estate professional for referring a buyer or seller to us for the sale of a property.
A win-win situation is really what we are all looking for, as well as the sale coming together as efficiently as possible, with all the appropriate legal documents in place. Of course you always have the written agreement to consult with an attorney to review all documents.
The first requirement is that you are qualified to purchase the property. A minimum of 20-30% of your own cash is generally required. This cannot be borrowed funds. Your credit must be satisfactory to initiate a loan through a seller or a lender. Speak to us about this in detail when pursuing a property to purchase. Regretfully because of the distance and time it takes to view a property, we don't show properties to buyers unless they fulfill these requirements. Written verification may be required in the process.
If you need to sell property to purchase, it may be difficult to make a written offer contingent upon that sale. Most sellers do not want to enter into an agreement to sell with this contingency. It's always best to make the decision on what you want to do and liquidate the property, acquire the cash then find the right property to purchase.
Full cash to purchase is always best, but we don't always have the full amount.
Some sellers may sell by owner financing and can offer a note, land contract or purchase money mortgage.
Bank loans are not always easy to obtain for resort business properties. We have found the best option for purchasing is the local bank to the property. They may know the property and have done business with the resort owner, and we have had the most success in loans in doing so.
SBA or government loans can be pursued, although a bank will be coordinating that sale. The qualifying paperwork can be quite involved and the up front fees may be much more than in a house loan with a local lender.