I am saving up for a down payment for my first rental property and I’m looking to do seller financing.

If you have a 33% down payment, you may be able to put a commercial loan on it.

He is taking out an equity loan on the house of about $120k to make home improvements and was gonna use $50k of that to get me a car and I make payments to him instead of the bank. 

There are very low down payment options with seller financing and sub-to deals.

Rate & term is alot easier to do if your in a hurry and can save you on hard money interest payments (assuming you have used hard money) The downside is your money will be tied up but you can also refi again later with a cash out or get a HELOC.. this can be tricky too and its a different topic.

We can comfortably provide a down payment over $100k, have a few hundred thousand in assets (i.e. equities, no property), have good credit (both over 750), no credit card debt.

You basically step into the seller's shoes, handle their monthly payments, and eventually own the place.

In my experience you will be able to get a better deal from a mom and pop landlord with under market rents and if you can get in there and improve the rents and leases and make minor improvements assuming interest rates go down in the coming years the value will go up as the monthly payment goes down increasing the value of the property and then i might trade up into a larger building with the equity from the sale.

I cover the idea of utilities and mindfulness around maintenance in my Digital Property Handbook where I talk about those things, and cover a lot more details around the property.

It kills me to lose money after so many years of effort but I could at least have a down payment for perhaps two income producing rental homes that might actually appreciate one day (in a totally different state that is!).