I've been reaching out to some friends and acquaintances recently to find out any and all advice those who invest in real estate have to give me.  I've been given a myriad of information, which is excellent, but there was one suggestion in particular that struck me as worth asking on this forum.

Basically, we were discussing the problem of lack of capital to purchase the first home in a portfolio.  His bank had suggested a strategy to him that goes (something) like this:  Property price is, say, 100k.  Bank needs 25% down.  Therefore, I offer the sellers 125k for the property, but only if the seller agrees to a 25k seller assist.  It sounds pretty simple and straightforward to me, but I just wanted to ask some experienced investors out there to see what thoughts and experiences you all have had with this type of creative financing.

I'm not too concerned honestly with the leverage aspect of things at the moment, I'm just trying to get a game plan for my first property that I plan on buying in the next few months.  I have heard of seller assist before, but not in this manner that my friend described.  Also, I feel that I should mention I do have a small amount of money saved up and that I can get my hands on if needed for minor repairs and holding costs for a limited amount of time, so I'm not going into this completely strapped, just looking at possibilities and options.  Let me know what you guys think, thanks in advance!