College Student Considering Seller Financing

[Butler VanVeckhoven]

Hey everyone!

My partner and I are looking to make our first offer on a house within the upcoming months, but we are still in school so we aren't able to pull a conventional loan. This brought us to consider seller financing as our only viable option. We safely have about $20,000 pooled together that could afford a down payment on some of the houses we are looking at, and we would still have some reserve funds for a cushion should things go wrong after the purchase. 

I'm curious how exactly we should go about finding sellers that have a low mortgage on their home that would be willing to do this, how to ask them if seller financing is an option without putting in an offer, and how to wisely use the pooled money we have as a negotiating tool.

I appreciate any help!