What does a real estate investor like Steve Gaston do with the houses he buys each month? What about the houses his company has bought throughout Charlotte area over the last 21 years? Simple. He rents them out or resells them. “We’re usually managing numerous properties at any given time — making us one of the largest owners of single family homes in the area. Each month we may have 3 to 6 houses for sale. Some we’ve owned for years and others we have recently bought.”
With a reasonable down payment, Gaston says he can sell you one of his properties using his popular owner financing programs — even if you have damaged credit or a short job history.
“If you can afford a first month’s rent, a last month’s rent and a security deposit, then I can probably sell you one of my houses.”
His most popular owner financing program includes the opportunity to build “sweat equity.” Before repairing or remodeling a newly acquired house, Gaston offers it in “as-is” condition to his buyer’s list. This allows his client to do the work (to suit their own preferences) in exchange for all or part of a down payment. “I have a lot of buyers who check my website each week looking for these ‘fixer upper’ deals. But if the home is not under contract within 10 days or so then I’ll hire my contractors to fix it up completely.”
His next most popular program is a down payment assistance plan. Many buyers turn to Gaston because they don’t have the down payment required by today’s cautious lenders. Steve helps buyers build up equity or a down payment over time with his rent-to-own (or lease with the option to buy) program. In this program you can rent the property you’ve decided to buy, but have the option to close anytime over the next 1, 2… or even 5 years. A portion of the rent each month is credited toward buying. Additional amounts can be paid monthly for more rapid equity build up plus other promised amounts can be made later… like proceeds from the sale of another property or a pending tax refund.