In addition, even though you would have no financing in your model you can mitigate the risk with proper cash reserves and grow 4 times as fast. 

Erick,Take @Gregory Hiban advice, find a Title company to do the proper searches and to do the closing. what if there are liens on the property ?

Both can be transferred to a third party and can be cashed with proper identification.

It really appears that this was not properly explained when you spoke with us, so we completely understand why this would raise "red flags" for you.

You as the landlord have to ensure that the move out process is orderly (hire a moving company, etc.).

Get proper insurance, also if you did buy in an LLC you would probably have a much higher down payment requirement in the neighborhood of 20-25% as opposed to 3.5% FHA

one I can specifically recall was the seller went and told the credit union she sold the property promptly got a letter from said credit union they were calling the loan.. the others don't recall specifics.agreed properly collateralized investors this is a good tool... like guns or pitt bulls in the wrong hands its a disaster.. and when people teach this its usually because the buyer does not have the money to buy any other way and looks at it as low down way to get into the deals and they have no credit to borrow money.. for well collateralized companies like yourself or us.. its great tool.. for seller highly risky in states that allow deficiency judgements.. would like to think the buyer will just deed it over but that's not been my expeirnce.my experience with these going badwere gurus teaching sandwhich lease options on sub too.. in our state that requires a full foreclosure to cure.. now you have a lessee int he house who is not paying.. you have your middle man who ran out of money can afford to forclose or make payments.. you have the seller usually figure it out when they are getting late notices and their credit is trashed..

From the private lenders perspective, I was thinking they'd want to ensure a 15% (15 month term at 1% per month) return whether I paid the loan off early or not.

That being said, FOR ME a good deal starts with one where we can apply the necesary strategies to ensure the preservation of our investors capital.

this is starting to become a self fulfilling prophecy.. for not reason other than the market is returning to balance. the risk in landlording is your units go vacant which did happen in 08.. or get run down and you do not have the funds to properly maintain them because you only have enough income to cover fixed debt.