How to Find Owners Willing to Provide Owner Financing

[Montoya Lashley]

Hello BPers,

I'm a newbie investor, a little over a year out of college, trying to get my first deal under my belt and I'm excited to be sharing my first post to the BP Forums.

I'm interested in purchasing an updated and fully tenanted 2-4 unit multi-family property through owner financing with no money down in Chicago, IL. I am currently looking at properties within the $100-$200K price range, however, I only qualify to finance $120-130K. Would sellers still be willing to finance to a newbie at the higher price? Also, given that I would need a preapproval letter to make an offer on properties and the fact that I can't obtain a preapproval in the price range I'm currently seeking, how would I approach making an offer, through my real estate agent, with owner financing terms?

Finally, taking a step back, how can I identify owners, with properties that meet my criteria, who might be willing to provide owner financing?

Any help would be appreciated. Please also feel free to provide further commentary on my strategy, criteria, or anything else. I'm interested in owner financing as this seems to be the most viable option for me to have the possibility of purchasing with no money down starting out, therefore, please also feel free to suggest other options I may be able to take advantage of to accomplish this goal.

I look forward to seeing what everyone has to say!

[Benjamin Morris]

Originally posted by @Montoya Lashley:

Thanks @Brie Schmidt I will definitely look into starting a direct mail campaign. If possible, do you think I may have a higher probability of finding a private lender to provide funding for the down payment on a conventional financing bank loan? Please suggest any other strategies you may have seen newbies deploy with no money down.

 Are you sure you can't be approved for a four family that already has 2-3 tenants? Your income coupled with their prorated estimate should be sufficient if it's a quality property. An example in the CT area, you can get four families between $120k-$190k bringing in $600-950/month per unit (1br =~$600) (3br =~$950). 

There is a property I found that the bank would loan me solely on the properties income and no consideration required on my income - based on rent history. [$3350/mo rent with purchase price of $130k]. <- C- neighborhood.