All Forum Posts by: Michelle Mayfield

Hello BiggerPockets community,

I wanted to come to the forums and ask everyone who is familiar with seller financing, or have done deals using this investment technique, which states are the best to do this form of investing in and why? This is a pretty weird question, I know, but I am curious.

I get that you can do deals pretty much anywhere, and there are good deals all over the country, but I don't believe that the markets are equal in this regard.

For example, if the seller has the ability to look at your credit as an investor (which throws out one of the sole purposes of doing a seller finance), versus states/markets that don't require that as much, I would like to know the states/markets where owners checking your credit history is not going to be prevalent in a deal, assuming the seller is willing to do this kind of deal with you.

For context, yes, I am a new and aspiring investor, and due to certain circumstances, my credit is currently not the best, but I don't want that to stop me from investing in real estate (which is why I'm leaning to using seller financing).

Please no answers saying that I should just raise my credit score and get an FHA/Conventional loan, because I am currently working on raising my credit, but I can't give a time on when my credit will be "back to normal" again, which could mean I could be stuck on not qualifying for a loan for the next couple of years (ain't nobody got time for that).

Thanks for the help! :)

@Mohammed Rahman So would this mean that when it comes to rentals, how long that particular property has been on the market doesn't matter as much as if you were doing some other real estate strategy right? Sorry if this seems like a dumb question, but I am genuinely curious. Thank you for your input!

Thank you everyone for your responses! I'll do my best to give an appropriate response to each one of you below:

@Theresa Harris I didn't ask him what the substantial down payment yet. I haven't spoken to him actually, but I would assume it would be that percentage. 

@Eliott Elias The reason I'm not doing a bank is because my credit score is bad, so I know I wouldn't qualify for a loan. Plus, I'd rather use cash on a deal anyways, so that things could close faster, but I get what you're saying. I'd rather not put a lot of my own money down on a deal either.

@Corby Goade I would love to crunch my own numbers, but I just don't have the financial means to get the software necessary. I would use BiggerPocket's calculators, but it just costs too much for me at the moment to sign up as a pro member. If there is a software that's free or cheaper that you know that works just as good, please let me know :)

@Taj Akinbode I would love to connect with you if possible! Do you do other markets as well, or just Houston?

@Karl McGarvey Thank you for that answer, and that puts everything in a new perspective. If Houston is a market where the seller can do thorough due diligence on a buyer, then Houston may not be a market for me (because of my bad credit and finances). Are you an agent in the area as well?

@Nicholas L. I'm not investing in my own market because not only of deals being "too expensive", there was a law that was passed not too long ago favoring tenants who couldn't pay rent. It was during Covid, so I'm not 100% sure if this is still in effect or not, but tenants (at least in my area) could stay in their rented homes for a couple of months without paying rent, and that's just not something I'm willing to deal with. I don't know if it's just my area, or all of CA, but I don't want to take the risk.

Hi everyone,

My name is Michelle, and I'm from SF Bay Area in CA. I'm new to real estate investing and I'm interested in building a rental portfolio. I've been looking to start getting rentals in TX, and I came across this multifamily in Houston, but due to personal reasons, the only way that I could buy this property is with seller financing. According to the listing, the owner is open to seller financing with a "substantial down payment if I qualify", and I thought that was weird. The property is currently fully occupied, but the rents seem lower that what the market rents should be, but I could be wrong.

My question to all of you seasoned investors is should I go for this deal? It's been on the market for 40 days now, and I can tell that the owner is also an investor (I assume he owns the property free and clear because of this), but it makes me wonder why hasn't this guy sold the property already? I'm nervous because I don't want to risk too much on a deal that I don't know much about how I'm going to set up the deal, since I'm by myself with no mentor. Any advice helps. Thank you!