I have been given a offer from a friends father to buy his home. The deal is still up in the air but what has been talked about so far is as follows:

I get the deed to the house in my name.

There will be a contract written that I will pay an amount of money monthly until the total sum is reached which will be the total price of the house.

The house is paid for so there is no money owed on it though a bank etc.

This is either the deal of a lifetime or I'm getting blindsided. I could use some help. I'm trying to find out if the contact I get is going to hold. I have not seen it yet but its going to be something along the lines of if I fail to pay off that amount in that time frame they he gets the house back.

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Thank you so much

I know people who did that very thing. You should have a lawyer review the contract.
The part about them getting the house back if not paid off in the time frame cncerns me. Does that mean if the price of the house is $ 100k and you pay $ 90k but can't make any more payments, they get the house and you lose your $ 90k? I hope not.
Also, I don't know how long of a time the deal spans, but remember you might be dealing with different people (heirs, second wives etc) later on in the contract. Couldthey demand payment of the loan early and make you lose the house. I am not trying to be negative, these deals can work, but get a clear understanding of the offer, no matter how long it takes. With the current housing market, they could be looking out more for themselves than for you.

Hello foxy:

Depending on the details, it doesn't appear that he is asking for anything that a bank wouldn't ask for. All he wants is payments, and if you don't make them, he gets to foreclose...

In addition to the excellent advice to get an attorney to advise you, you are certainly going to need an appraisal. It's only a good deal if you're not paying too much.

Plus, the interest rate he wants to charge you is important... However, you didn't mention interest... He IS going to charge interest, no??

excon

This is not really a contract for deed, since you say you are getting the deed in your name. The owner will merely hold the mortgage like a bank
There should be not a contract but a mortgage written and signed.

The terms of the mortgage ( or contract if that is how they do it) will make or break the deal, what interest rate, what reasons do they have to foreclose, I got into one before, I had to be the resident, I could not rent it out and could not leave it empty more than one month,
It was early in my buying of houses, Never got cheated again.

You did not state whether you would get the deed now, and give him a mortgage, or leave the house in his name and sign a land contract.

If you're going to leave it in his name, and there is a possibility he could die before you pay it off (there's always a possibility anyone could die anyway), you should have the house placed into a trust or some other arrangement where you won't have to deal with probate. By far the best option is to get the house in your name now and give him a mortgage. Then his heirs can deal with it if something happens.

If you do a land contract, make sure you record it with the county. Then there will be no quick and dirty way for him or his heirs to get you out if you stop making payments, without doing a foreclosure. During that time, if you have equity, you could always sell the house to pay off the balance and walk away with your equity.