It's a big source of contention and can carry harsh penalties. 

We have to carry it as an LLC if we have employees but not if we don't.

.#1 - see if a bank would lend me $400k for the down payment - Owner would owner carry $1.6 mil - however payments would not start until possibly end of year one or two....maybe this could be modified with a 10% down payment - so borrow $200k 1st year, borrow $200k 2nd year, then owner carry payments start year 3 -- either way figure it will only work if he's willing to start taking payments a year or 2 after I would take control to give me time to put money back in the properties and get them turned around.#2 - partner with owner in some fashion - we work together for say 5 years -- at the end of 5 years I have the option to buy at an agreed price?

Hi Linda:It would make the most sense to locate the property(ies) that you want to purchase in your first round of acquisitions prior to funding the refinance on your primary residence if you are worried about carrying the interest with no returns. 

I self funded this project so carrying costs for taxes, insurance, utilities and lawn care were under $250 per month.  

I am with @Bill S. on this one.A site titled "the housing bubble blog" carries very little weight just because of the name, followed by the poor information I put this one away in the round file. 

If they are in a strong cash position they could simply sell outright to you now and carry a note back that they put into their exchange and then replace with cash.  

This deal on its own is way to tight, but, we purchased sub2 and owner carry with $0 down and borrowed $25,000 for our budget.

Especially since I pay cash and can carry a second or be creative with the financing.If I was to become a new agent, I'd be holding open house every day and pouring over all the MLS listings and finding the bargains in various price points.

I'm in iowa and the state law requires me to carry the existing lease.