It takes away from your profit potiential for an investment and as far as I know you can not debduct the cost in your taxes.

For owner financing I would pitch it to the owner however you would like to lay it out, or ask if they would do payments and a balloon within a few years to let you build equity and income on the property.

By the end of 5 years I hopefully have between 60-125% of my down payment back and a capital gains profit that is rolled into two new properties!

I'm still fairly new to investing as well... just got my RE license, preparing my first DM campaign, and a few other things to set everything up.

But I think my reputation on BP and as a meetup group leader definitely helped.

Loopnet, NJ MLS, zillow/trulia, and a bunch of others.  

Message me and we can get together and see if there is a mutual benefit to networking and a mentorship.

It just takes some extra work and a little creative marketing.

The thing is, with enough diligence and a decent financing plan, you can screw up pretty badly with duplexes and such and still make plenty of money in the end.

I normally have them sign the Information About Brokerage Services if we meet up and ALWAYS have them sign the IABS and a non representation agreement if we agree on a price and I get the house under contract.