Owner financing vs Sandwich leasing

[Rodger Fore]

I have been going over many different ways to finance my first RE deal. I am trying to get more specific with what I want to focus on. I have just been practicing analyzing deals off the MLS, listening to podcasts, and reading up on BRRRR and the ins and outs of being a landlord.
I do not want to stall my investing with a buy and hold.  It would take me too long to save up for more investments.  So I was watching a sandwich leasing video by Kris Krohn on YouTube and kept on hearing about how many of the guests on the BiggerPockets podcast started with owner financing to get the ball rolling with their RE investing.  Is there a difference between Owner financing and a sandwich lease option?  It seems that in both.  You as the investor are under contract with the seller and your tenant is under contract with you.  With the Seller financing you have longer terms initially for the mortgage.  While with the sandwich lease you are under contract for a shorter period of time?  Does anyone have experience with one or both of these strategies.  I plan on starting locally with San Antonio and managing the properties myself.  Thanks for y’alls help.

[Joshua Parr]

They are similar in what you are doing but in owner financing, you own the property and pay the seller a monthly mortgage payment. If you stop paying, the owner can/will foreclose on you. You can rent out the property or sell it for a profit (given you can sell it for more than what you owe the seller). 

In a sandwich lease option, you do not own the property. You rent from the landlord and then sublease to a tenant while collecting a spread on the rents, price, and option fee. 

With owner financing you have more control over the property. In both cases, you can do a lease or lease option with a prospective tenant-buyer. Either way, I would be clear with the seller what your intentions are. 

I would say if the property is paid off or the seller is willing to pay it off, you can do either but I would try for owner financing but the seller may want a large downpayment (which it seems like you are trying to avoid that). If there's a mortgage, you can still do the sandwich lease as long as you can still collect a spread on the rents.

Hope that helps, best of luck!