@Josh Little, an installment sale like @Senthil Akasham suggests is not a bad idea depending on the history of the property. 

(Happy ending - he saved up more money, went back to my friend and bought a rental the next year)Further referrals from this friend haven't been nearly so bad. 

Just checking if anyone has any experiences with them whether good or bad or any other device that they can give me regarding this information.Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Not a bad idea to gain an additional income from the same land!

Not a bad deal for the homeowner for not paying mortgages and get a lump sum of money for losing the title. 

See the differences in prices (rent & home sales) in the "good" and "bad" parts of your market.

I got a bit of a bad feeling when I suggested waiting a year to have the ceilings scraped and she said, "It's best to do them now, before having the flooring replaced, because *something* always gets messed up when ceilings are scraped."

However, don't get caught up in the mindset where you have to find something immediately and buy into a bad deal.  

I own it outright but I really, really, really don't want to take out any loans against it, based on a bad experience in the past.My ideas so far include:Go to the bank or the credit union and get a regular mortgage loan.Go to the bank or the credit union and get a loan against the rental house - HELOC?

But, when I try to compute what real figures look like, each have been negative or bad deals.