If you are serious I would write a check when you agree on terms and either have a simple buy sale agreement ready with fill in the blank price, or pull out a tablet of paper and put the terms down and sign it.

You can have automatic renewals of a contract but you can have issues if they are not well thought out and drafted properly.AR contracts mat renew for like terms if notice to terminate is not given, if either party misses that date either party could have regrets.Your contract may have an escalation rent clause, fine, but what happens if some city ordinance or some common practice in your area changes, perhaps from some law suit, you can't modify you lease if it automatically renewed.Any lease that can be automatically renewed beyond 3 years can trigger the due on sale clause of your mortgage too.Automatic renewals may be viewed as a tenant having a first right of refusal by some judge, if any change is required it can be adopted and a tenant barks or they agree they may be viewed as first in line since they live there.Some states cover the issue as well, so I'd suggest doing a new lease each year, for the cost of 6 or 8 pieces of paper it can make like easier. :)

The degree is a worthless piece of paper (even though most end up paying tens of thousands for it).

The only thing different was the option to have someone other than the sheriff serve the papers, but it couldn't be me.

Hellp BP Fam,What does it mean to "carry back the loan/paper/mortgage"? 

It's crazy to sit down at the closing table with clients who are first time home buyers, and when they see the paper that says how much interest they are going to be paying over the 30 years, and what their total cost will be, their eyes practically bug out of their heads =PI suppose you could use an amortization table /breakdown to help sell seller financing too for that same reason.

We're not asking the sellers to carry any paper either.

You could offer less (I like Brian P's points) or offer a slightly higher price that includes some paper, and structure the deal such that there is some risk reversal.

One drawback is that they are paper-based, not online, so it's checks to deposit and paper records.

Lots of rolls of teflon tape, plumbers sandpaper, ALLWAYS bring a roll or two of paper towels and dawn dishsoap for clean up of you and tools and messes.