Finally, even with a substantial discount, the house may not be worth it.

My humble advice to anyone attempting to do creative finance is:Creative finance is for experienced investors who have access to capital if anything goes wrong.Learn the lawsDon't use a contract "off the internet", laws vary by state and are also regulated on a federal levelLearn the financing techniques correctlyDon’t skip parts of the processDon’t ever do a “kitchen table” closingUse the proper deedAn attorney can help you with the legal work, but the rest you are on your ownYour guru will not bail you out“Investing” in someone else’s deal by providing a small 2nd loan so the “investor” can pay for “cash to the seller” and for “closing costs” so he can do the deal is a very bad planKnow what problems can ariseLearn the responses and solutions to problems before they are neededKnow everything there is to know about Title and what that meansKnow who a "protected class" individual isLearn the "back doors"Learn human natureUnderstand timelinesUnderstand regulation enforcement (some of these "mistakes" have a 10 year statue of limitations ( they can charge you 10 years AFTER you do the transaction) and carry hefty fines and possible imprisonmentThe court doesn't accept "I didn't know" for an answer"Know that the source of the lead plays a serious role in some states and federallyKnow how much of a "profit" pushes the boundaries to invite an investigationYou can be sued by the seller if you don’t do things correctlyYou are automatically at fault if an investigator or attorney or regulator gets involved.

How do you get paid, Is this an under the table kind of situation or is it something to add as part of your business cash flow.

If you don't mind my asking, how did you find the deal to begin with, and did you have some hint that owner financing might be on the table from the get-go?  

They finally get back to me after the close date to say they need more time because they are try to cross collateralize their other properties to make this deal happen and the bank they were using doesn't do this kind of loan. 

Therefore, bringing as little to the table as possible at closing in both the downpayment + closing costs should hopefully still make your numbers work.

Eventually, after finally admitting he could not obtain a loan, he failed to return my capital, and completely stopped responding just long enough until the banks were unable to reverse any payments.

Network in person, see if they have a publication where you can post your deals and what you are looking for, and if there is a larger annual conference for investors locally consider getting a vendor table to talk about your business and what you are looking for.

There is a saying "if you've been sitting at the poker table for more than 15 minutes and you don't know who the patsy is...then you're the patsy".

Really what I am trying to figure out is what is the ratio of value for the various things that different partners would bring to the table like: down payment, long term management, rehab labor, acting as contractor for rehab but not doing the work yourself.