You sold a house, a manufactured home or a tract of land in West Virginia and became the lender. We bring your note to competing buyers and show you exactly how each one priced it.
Gaps in a West Virginia file that a buyer fills with a lower number.
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 saleA lot of West Virginia housing is older, modest in price or sitting on land with a complicated history, and that is the setting where sellers end up acting as the bank. A house in Charleston, Huntington, Parkersburg or Wheeling goes to a buyer with patchy credit. A manufactured home on a couple of acres in Raleigh or Mercer County is sold on payments. A hunting tract in Pocahontas or Randolph County is bought by someone from Ohio or Pennsylvania.
The Eastern Panhandle is its own market. Martinsburg, Charles Town and Shepherdstown sit within commuting range of Washington and Baltimore, and prices there behave more like suburban Maryland than like the southern coalfields. A note from Berkeley or Jefferson County and a note from McDowell County will get very different receptions from buyers. So will a note on property just over the line in Maryland or Virginia, where another state’s practice applies.
The gap between what the payer owes and what a buyer will pay today grows with every question a buyer cannot answer from the file. Files from this state raise several of their own.
A note with one of these issues can still be sold. Each one answered in advance removes a reason for a buyer to bid low, and the payer’s record and equity in the property still carry the most weight. Tell us which of them apply to your property when you ask us to price the note.
In West Virginia the loan is commonly secured by a deed of trust. You hold the note, and a trustee named in the deed of trust holds a security interest in the property for you. If the payer defaults, the trustee can generally sell the property at a public sale without filing a lawsuit. That out-of-court trustee sale is the route commonly used, and a buyer treats it as a less expensive fallback than a court case would be. How a mortgage and a deed of trust differ has the background. What your own deed of trust permits is a question for a West Virginia attorney.
Alongside the note, the recorded deed of trust and proof of the payments you have received, look for these:
The first two matter most, because minerals and access are questions a buyer cannot settle from the note and deed of trust alone. The home’s title and the insurance page have to come from you or the payer, so ask for those early.
A deed of trust is commonly used in West Virginia, with a trustee named in the document. After a default the trustee can generally sell the property without a court case. A buyer confirms this from your recorded paperwork.
No. Surface-only ownership has a long history in the state, and a buyer who knows the area has seen it before. They want to know what your security covers and what rights the mineral owner has over the surface. A title search is where both answers come from.
It can be sold. The main question is whether the home is legally part of the land or carries its own separate title. A home joined to land you financed together is easier to sell a note on than a home alone.
The method is the same, but the result can differ. More buyers are comfortable with property near Martinsburg or Charles Town because resale demand is easier to read. On rural southern property, expect a wider spread between offers.