Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Can Buyer sell property if bought under land contract?

If your goal is to resell the property, then a land contract or "contract for deed" transaction is not for you. This type of arrangement for acquiring real estate is not commonly used, modernly; it is also often called a "land sale contract". In these transactions you do not "own" the property and thus do not have the right to sell it, until you have COMPLETED all the payments on the contract. In a true contract for sale, title remains in the seller until such time as you have completed all of your obligations under the contract, and in return, you get the "deed" to the property. Now in theory, you could always get a loan to pay off what is owed the seller, ASSUMING an early payoff is permitted under the contract, and that is the kicker; a common reason a seller would want to sell using this type of vehicle, would be where he does not want to realize all the money at once, possibly due to capital gains concerns, etc, and many of these contracts do not permit early payoffs.