One of my concerns is how and what would be the remedy if the buyer finished paying and something happened to the seller before the seller could sign off on the deed.

@Thomas Farrell if you have any experience managing property/construction projects, I would look in to flipping properties and keeping the once that you see an acceptable cashflow on when finished.

I am in the middle of finishing 2 flips there and have 2 long term Holds there as well. 

.- If you're going after a seller finance deal I think once you understand what it will take to get to a finished state its simply a matter of aligning your needs as far as short term cashflow with the current rents/situation, with the net number the seller needs after the refinance.  

I just finished The Book On Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner, and it made me even more excited and determined about getting into this business.

Try to rehab a house 2,000 miles away with no money as a beginning investor.I basically had to run a pyramid scheme in order to finish this project.

We found two contractors and the bid we received to finish the work were higher than the bid we contracted to complete the entire rehab! 

Is there a significant amount of difference between what you can buy a fix for and what you can sell the finished flip at?

Anyone that remembers we bought the really ran down house in Anderson, we also finished the remodel and refinanced that one also.

Having the seller carry a second is not a problem for the first, as long as their business with you is finished and the loan has closed.