Convincing seller to finance

[Dave Meadows]

I've been looking at a house that has been on the market for 9-10 months to potentially rehab. The situation is the owners are retired, live far away in another state, and don't want to fool with updating the house from all it's Brady Bunch glory. They own the house, and it doesn't appear to have any major structural problems. It's listed for $20K under TV, which falls into this "no man's land" price range in our area (too high for first time buyers, too low for those moving up). It needs far too much cosmetic work for the typical owner-occupant, which explains why it has sat on the market for so long in an extremely popular area.

There have been two houses in the same neighborhood that were bought, rehabbed, and sold within six months of the initial sale, for what appears to be very decent profit margins. There is low inventory in this area as well, which helps houses sell quickly.

So in my quest to find creative financing options for my first flip, I considered contacting the owners about selling me the house with them financing the deal. I feel I can finance the repairs myself. Does anyone have any experience with this sort of deal?