In certain situations—especially with motivated sellers—this can be a way to structure a deal with little money down and flexible terms.

However since this is our first rental, we are getting cold feet and suspicion that it might be a money pit or go wrong drastically.

My name is Naomi Pinger and I am a private money lender.

However, I'd bet that the goal for most folks on this forum is to be financially independent, and never have to worry about where the money is coming from ever again.

You probably have a lot of friends or relatives with money to invest and an interest in real estate, but they have no clue what to do.

If you achieved this by paying all cash, then you are losing money. 

This decision increased our budget from $15K to $45K, but it turned out to be a wise investment.The increased budget allowed us to enhance the property's overall value significantly, and we were able to sell it for a much higher price than initially anticipated.

Learning that I prefer money invested in real estate over money sitting in the bank... don't we all?!

This decision increased our budget from $15K to $45K, but it turned out to be a wise investment.The increased budget allowed us to enhance the property's overall value significantly, and we were able to sell it for a much higher price than initially anticipated.

So the only money out of pocket is any closing costs that don't get worked into a new loan.