Seller wants to stay FOREVER

30 space park, and three houses. One of the family members selling the park lives in one of the three houses. She is 82 years old. She wants to stay in the house until she dies. Then I would get possession of her house and I can rent it out.

The purchase price is still a good deal without considering rent from that house. Rent for the house is worth $800+ a month. If she lives another 10 years, that is worth $96,000. You could say I’m paying an extra $96,000 for the park. I don’t want to acknowledge the cost if she lives to be 100. The house is not worth that kind of money.

We need to address who is responsible for home maintenance issues. I’m not inclined to pay them if she is still living there. Her lease to live there would require her to follow all the same rules of the park.

What are your thoughts?

Is the issue that she is the previous owner or the income loss? It’s hard if the previous owner is right there comparing notes to how she was running it. Hopefully she gives you respect and acknowledges the improvements that you make as you are a fresh pair of eyes on the property.

Good karma sometimes works out. You never know if family will step in some where in the near future and move her away, if she passes soon, or if some other thing happens. You never can tell. Don’t stress yourself about it, I mean unless it’s a super big deal.

Discuss with her the new rental agreement and rules that would be the contingency for her to stay, get her some names of maintenance companies (you don’t have to but you can facilitate her finding help keep up her home - without it being your ongoing resources) or charge her for exterior yard maintenance as a service fee that is written in the contract as a monthly fee or on an as needed basis per hour, or whatever.
Focus on filling the empty lots. There are tons of people out there every day wanting to move a home into my park, they should be doing the same to yours if it’s in fair to middlin’ shape.

Hope this helps :slight_smile:

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From my perspective her request is reasonable, and it’s something you can accommodate as long as the price is right.

You said:
“The purchase price is still a good deal without considering rent from that house.”
This is pretty simple then, just buy it and make her happy while making a profit. (If the numbers are a bit thin, ask for a bit of a discount to give you a wider margin)

If helpful, the social security administration publishes actuarial tables, giving an 82 year old female 8.48 more years to live. Obviously this is going to vary a lot on an individual basis based on current health.

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We have an agreement in place with a previous owner similar to this (but for 5 years). For us this has been a major asset not a liability.

If you leave the current owner responsible for repairs what happens if they are not made? I’d shoot for reducing the purchase price on the front in and take responsibility for repairs.

Agree - if price is ok with her staying and paying no rent or some rent be prepared to fix minor repairs. Have written “life estate” that home goes to you not relatives/ estate

You may want to get some legal advice on a stick built home and your responsibility. In some states you are responsible for the home being habitable and if she doesn’t do the repairs this could come back and bite you despite the fact you are not collecting rent. As she ages this could become more of an issue and present some significant risk for you. I would try and negotiate the price of the park down and maintain the home - better for you in terms of liability and ensures it isn’t a shit show when you do get possession!

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