Seller Financing contract

[Cody Wageman]

Hoping someone can help us with a potential opportunity that came our way. We have been under contract for a property and going back and forth with the seller on some terms and financing. Just yesterday he proposed potentially doing a seller financing option that sounds pretty good for both parties. The big concern is he says the contract is a “contract for deed”. We are not sure what that means or if that is the common way or only way to go about a seller financing option. The guy has been pretty good to work but we want to make sure this is potentially the right way to contract this if we go this route. 

Is there tax issues/ramifications if we do this? 

Is there issues if the seller for some reason has financial hardships or something that could adversely affect us?

this is definitely a new world to us so we are trying to get as much information as we can and we appreciate any information you can all provide. These forums have been super helpful and we’ve met some great people here.  Thank you for any information or guidance you can give us.