It all depends on how you want to use the money for risk versus gain.

For instance if your big name brand versus a local family owned business, and this will appeal to different individuals.

In Aaron's scenario of getting $5K down on a $25k house (aside from the near impossibility of finding a buyer in a $16K-neighborhood who has $5K lying around): This means the buyer would have 20% equity in the house, so one of the main benefits of doing a land contract (versus a mortgage) is eliminated.

Friends up here along the Blue Ridge Parkway do well with them - but the money makers are the oversized 7-8 bedroom types that can sleep the entire extended family of 20+ versus the bread & butter 3/2's you're probably more used to.

They are considering it.My questions....1) Is there a tax advantage to seller financing if I gave them $40k down and $1200/mo until paid versus them getting a lump sum of $240k-closing costs?

From my understanding depending on the numbers that leveraging your money this way results in a larger return-on-investment versus paying all "cash".Idea 3: save up my income from my current 2 properties and go the the traditional route of putting 20%-30% down on a duplex and getting a mortgage on the property.Like I said I am very new to this but really want to start.

Obviously, if you pay more up front you will cash flow better versus mortgaging a larger portion.

The first thing I would do is assess the land versus building value and find out which is more valuable.Also look into restrictions for this area; some historic districts require period-era updates, which means you have to keep the original look/style etc.

What is your cash return percentage on commercial prices versus residential prices?

I think many get a lot out of connecting locally with deep market knowledge versus nationally with a system.