Seller Carry Back Note...Good Idea?

[Ryan Alexander]

Hey everyone, 

I'd appreciate any help or advice on this. I'm pursuing my first real estate investment, analyzed the deal and working on financing now. I'm leaning toward putting an offer in that includes a seller carry back note. If the seller accepts, it would look like: 

80% mortgage, 15% carry back and 5% down payment. 

It allows me to purchase the property with not much down and I would then use the cash flow to pay the seller the carry back note as a second mortgage essentially until it's paid off.

Has anyone used this in real estate investing before? If so, thoughts on it if you think it's a good or bad idea? How did it work out for you? I know it's not guarantee that the seller would accept, but the property has been on the market for a while so I believe there's a chance depending on how motivated they are. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!