life estate is for sale

You need deep pockets, and patience. Think of it as an investment for your children (or maybe even their children)

Never wish death upon someone for your own personal gain. Wait patiently and it will happen eventually

You need an inspection of the owner and their health. They don't give the age and sex of the life estate owner, so it is impossible to estimate when you might get possession.

I've dealt with a buyout of a life estate before. Basically, they are a stupid idea, and full of problems.

What happens is the owner of the townhouse may have "given away" the property, subject to his/her being able to live there for the rest of his/her life. What appears to be going on here is the owner of the townhouse is trying to cash in BEFORE the life estate owner dies.

The house may have been given to kids, or to a non-profit. Can't tell from the brochure.

Not much to read on acris either. Looks like this was already owned by siblings (brother and sister) and the sister transfered ownership to the brother only in 1977.
I am assuming a lot.
1) I don't think a wife would get possession of a home from the husband in a divorce, even in 1977.
2) Her signature looks like she's been signing that last name forever
Maybe she got married in '77. Brother didn't like the new brother in law.

Basically your giving a loan on a property secured by giving 50% value and your return will be well, pot luck. Very Monty Hall. Just a matter of how long will the commercial break last before you get the prize.

"Never wish death upon someone for your own personal gain."

Agreed, wouldn't want the temptation to either.

Though I do smell a screenplay in this kind of scenario. :)

There a story about this in england where the person lived to 95, out living the investor.
Interesting investigation.

This happened a lot in English novels. It was called selling post-obits.

The father has a life estate in land, with the son having the remainder interest. I.e., the land is entailed. The spendthrift son sells his remainder interest to pay off debts. Father finds out, and the plot proceeds....

Or there's the situation in Pride and Prejudice. The daughters have no dowry because their father's estate is entailed upon Mr. Collins, the nearest male relative. Mr. Collins doesn't try to sell his remainder interest but tries to make up for the injustice of primogeniture by marrying one of the daughters.

I didn't even click the the link at forst, HA! I first saw this for sale maybe 3 years ago....

NWT: This is not how the fee tail worked in England. Fee simple = remainder interest + life estate. Fee tail is something else, where the fee is held by A & his heirs.

This interest is not entitled to occupy the premises -- Vested ?? Thus far? Unclear -- Why?

There was something like this in France a while back - attorney bought their equivalent of life estate apartment - old woman living there. Only problem , he died first.

In this particular situation, there is a kids bedroom with bunk beds. Are those for the owner's kids? Grandkids? Great grandkids? If it's grandkids, then we're looking at death of the owner at least 20-30 years out. If it's kids, we're looking at an even longer time frame.

This is very popular in France. But Google about it and you'll find a story of some woman who lived to like 105 and outlived like 2 or 3 "owners". But this is really a lot like buying a Coop or Condo with a RS/RC tenant.

This is a perfectly legitmate stategy. However it works better for a "portfolio" of properties. It's nothing more than understanding actuarial tables and applying a discount rate, after expenses, that you are happy with.

This is preferable to many RS properties, since there is no additional cash outlay after the initial acquisition. Many RS properties have monthly carrying costs in excess of rent. It seems an odd purchase to make without a visual inspection of the property. Even if the property may deteriorate over time, it seems reasonable to want to know what it looks like now. And, of course, without knowing more about the life against which the life estate is measured, it's extremely difficult to gauge value.