Some investors keep a foot in both worlds, using local banks for certain things (like larger loans) and online banks for everyday transactions.

Your value to this transaction is not zero, but its not much either.

I am sure there are lots of different reasons for it. well they were replaced by those crossing the border 750k out of 42 mil probably not that big of an impact.. traffic is still really heavy I was just there last weekend in the SF bay area no signs of the state looking like some of the dead cities one finds in the rust belt or deep south.

The question you should first ask yourself is why would the seller enter into one of these creative transactions instead of pursuing a traditional sale?

Alliant immediately approved me for a much larger loan than the previous lender... fingers crossed I don't run into the same issue with regards to a last minute request from underwriting to have an in-person appraisal that results in a lowball valuation.

Selling property for much higher than what a licensed appraisal would come in at moves the transaction into fraud territory.Note/lien = sales price - cash downAPR: fair reflection of riskIf APR is high => "high cost loan" under CFPB => appraisal and inspection become MANDATORYAnything less than this...that's your butt on the line.

But, you also have no online reviews from those 13 transactions - so what does that tell you? 

For some reason, I thought the former US steel site was near the Illinois / Indiana border, not downtown Chicago, but I must have been mistaken.Is the project going to be on the Chicago Riverwalk, as your picture indicates?

Bottom line is this; most real estate transactions only occur when both parties PERCEIVE the transaction as being advantageous to themselves.  

Pull of investors will surely buy them, direct from the banks, in batches of 20000 homes per transaction.