Land contract

A land contract — often described by other terminology listed below — is a contract between the buyer and seller of real property in which the seller provides the buyer financing in the purchase, and the buyer repays the resulting loan in installments. Under a land contract, the seller retains the legal title to the property, while permitting the buyer to take possession of it for most purposes other than legal ownership. The sale price is typically paid in periodic installments, often with a balloon payment at the end to make the timelength of payments shorter than in the corresponding fully amortized loan (i.e., a loan without a final balloon payment). When the full purchase price has been paid including any interest, the seller is obligated to convey (to the buyer) legal title to the property. An initial down payment from the buyer to the seller is usually also required.

The legal status of land contracts varies between jurisdictions.

Since a land contract specifies the sale of a specific item of real estate between a seller and buyer, a land contract can be considered a special type of real estate contract. In the usual, more conventional real estate contracts, a seller does not provide a loan to the buyer; the contract either does not specify a loan or includes provisions for a loan from a different "third party" lender, usually a financial institution in practice. When third party lenders are involved, typically a lien, as part of a mortgage or trust deed, is placed on the property, in which the property serves as collateral until the loan is repaid.

Other terms for a land contract include:

It is common for the installment payments of the purchase price to be similar to mortgage payments in amount and effect. The amount is often determined according to a mortgage amortization schedule. In effect, each installment payment is partial payment of the purchase price and partial payment of interest on the unpaid purchase price. This is similar to mortgage payments which are part repayment of the principal amount of the mortgage loan and part interest. As the buyer pays more toward the principal of the loan over time, his(her) equity (equitable title or equitable interest) in the property increases. For example, if a buyer pays a $2000 down payment and borrows $8000 for a $10000 parcel of land, and pays off in installments another $4000 of this loan (not including interest), the buyer has $6000 of equity in the land (which is 60% of the equitable title), but the seller holds legal title to the land as recorded in documentation (deeds) in a government recorder's office until the loan is completely paid off. However, if the buyer defaults on installment payments, the land contract may consider the failure to timely pay installments a breach of contract and the land equity may revert to the seller, depending on the land contract provisions.

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