Massachusetts owners finance sales of triple-deckers, Cape cottages and family homes. If you hold the note, we shop it to competing buyers and show you the yield, the discount and our fee on every offer.
Where money comes off a Massachusetts note before anyone bids.
The same worksheet comes with every offer.
| Remaining balance | $129,400 |
|---|---|
| Payments left | 168 |
| Buyer’s target yield | 8.0% |
| Purchase price | $115,000 |
| Discount from balance | 11.1% |
| Our fee | shown on every offer |
| Sell the whole note | Sell 60 payments | Keep it | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash today | $115,000 | $56,200 | $0 |
| Payments still coming to you | None | 108 payments of $1,140 | 168 payments of $1,140 |
| Total you receive | $115,000 | $179,320 | $191,520 |
| What you give up | Every future payment | The next five years | A lump sum now |
Illustrative example. Totals add up the payments as scheduled; they assume the payer keeps paying and are not adjusted for the value of money over time.
The promissory noteThe mortgage or deed of trustA payment historyThe closing statement from the saleMassachusetts generally uses a mortgage as the security instrument, the recorded document that pledges the property for the debt you are owed. Mortgages here are commonly written with a power of sale, a clause that lets the holder sell the property after a default without a full court case. That is non-judicial foreclosure. A limited court step tied to the borrower’s military status is commonly part of it even so.
For a buyer this is good news about cost. A route to the property that avoids a full lawsuit is cheaper to plan for than the court foreclosure that is the norm in some other states. A buyer who expects lower costs can accept a lower return on their money, and that means a higher price for you.
Massachusetts keeps land records two ways. Recorded land, the more common kind, is filed at the county registry of deeds. Registered land is tracked through the Land Court with a certificate of title. When you sell a note, the assignment of mortgage that transfers your security to the buyer has to be filed in the system the property belongs to. The title company handles the filing, but it needs to know which system applies, and so will your buyer. Ask a Massachusetts attorney or title company if your documents leave you unsure, because the rules here are detailed and they do change.
Two-family and three-family houses fill whole neighborhoods in Massachusetts cities. Owners in Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Lowell, New Bedford and Fall River sell a triple-decker to a tenant or a relative and carry the loan themselves, which produces a note backed by a building with rental income as well as an owner living in it. A buyer looking at one asks who lives there, what the other units rent for and what shape the building is in, and deferred repairs count against the price. Put those answers in when you give us the basics of your note, along with the balance, the payment, the rate and how long the payer has been paying.
Seasonal homes on Cape Cod and the Islands, land and older houses in the Berkshires, and family sales where a parent finances a child are the other sources. A Cape cottage still sells, though some buyers only want owner-occupied houses, so the group bidding on it is smaller, which is one of the ways property type and condition change a note’s value.
Buyers of Massachusetts notes pay close attention to the chain of ownership. If you bought the note from someone else or inherited it, they will want every assignment in order and on record before they fund, and a gap is far easier to fix now than in the middle of a closing.
Lay the documents out by date: the note, the recorded mortgage, each assignment, and for an inherited note the estate paperwork that names you. Check the mortgage for a Land Court reference while you are at it. If you cannot tell which kind of land you have, leave that for the title company.
Yes. Buyers will ask whether the borrower lives in the building, what the other units rent for and what condition it is in. A note on an owner-occupied multi-family with a clean payment record is generally well received.
It is commonly non-judicial, because mortgages here are commonly written with a power of sale. A limited court step is commonly involved as well. How it applies to your mortgage is a question for a Massachusetts attorney.
Registered land is property whose title is tracked through the Land Court instead of the ordinary registry records. It does not stop a note sale. It means the assignment to the buyer has to be filed in that system, which the title company handles.
Yes, once you can show the note passed to you or that you act for the estate. A buyer will want that paperwork along with an assignment that puts the mortgage in the right name. An attorney handling the estate can tell you what is needed.