Owner Financing??

[Fred Ramos]

Hi all. I've run into a little bit of a deal where some stuff is being thrown at me that I know nothing about. Owner financing. we already have a couple of properties but they have been financed through banks. I am looking at two duplexes next to each other at a very good price. it is a package deal. the owner has mentioned that if we wanted, they would hold the note for us with a balloon payment after 5 years.
my first question is, does the balloon payment mean that it has to be paid in full at that time? I'll be talking to them again this weekend and just want to get an idea as to what we'll be talking about.
Second, on an owner financed property, do you go through all the same steps as if it was being bank financed? what I'm refer to here is, how do I know that the owner will file the proper paperwork to get the property in our name?
This is the first time I've come across this and I'm completely unfamiliar with how owner financing works.
basically, in a nutshell, I want to make sure i don't get screwed. :)
Thank you all for your input.