New to investing, came up with this idea. Good/Bad/Thoughts???

[Patrick Jenkins]

Hi all. Quick introduction. I'm not a real estate investor, but I have begun doing some reading (The Book on How to Invest with No or Little Money Down, Rich Dad Poor Dad) and these have got my brain sold that this is something I would like to do. I'm just very hesitant to jump into something new, as most people are. Just these two books have got my brain thinking of how I can get my first property, even though I have a minimum wage job, and no type of savings to back me up if I fail. My one fail safe is my home, which I own, clean and clear, through an inheritance. However, I am pretty much refusing to use my home as any type of collateral. This was my mother's home, and she worked her butt off for it. I don't feel I earned this home, and if I somehow lost it I would feel like I literally spit in her face.

With that said, my neighbor across the street is moving soon. He plans to sell the house. As someone looking for a rental property, I think this would be ideal since I would be right across the street to keep an eye on it to manage. His house is in good shape and would probably need almost zero work. The house would probably see for market value, which I estimate on the high end $185K. What I was thinking is if I could talk him into selling me the house with promissory note, in which if I default, he gets the house right back and can resell.

I would guess that since he just purchased a new home, he was going to use the money from his sale, to pay off his old mortgage, and put toward the new. I'm guessing he owes about $50K left on the house, and I was thinking if I could somehow give him the $50K, we could promissory note the other $135K. I could then rent the property out  from anywhere between $1K - $1.5K and give me a little cash flow when it's all said and done.

And possibly in some years time the house would hopefully appreciate and I could sell for a profit.

I don't know if this is even something that would be legal as I'm still learning, but it came to me as an idea. I'd really appreciate the input and guidance.

Thanks

[Ryan Dossey]

This looks like you're trying to turn a non deal into a deal. No investor should be paying retail for properties. It all starts with getting a good deal. Banking on appreciation at this cycle in the market is madness. 

I agree with @Joe Villeneuve that your neighbor would have no reason to sell to you over cashing out with a retail buyer. The argument of he could "get the house back" isn't what anyone wants to hear. 

It also sounds like you don't have the 50k needed to "close". 

The problem with most "nothing down" deals is that the buyer really shouldn't be closing on real estate. What happens if you have a major repair right after close? 

Just my $0.02. 

I do a ton of "nothing down" deals but I'm paying $0.50 on the dollar and ending up all in for under 75% of appraised using private money. We also have reserves for repairs. 

We've done some seller finance but these have been 10% down on MF owned by mom and pop types.