An Alternative to a Mortgage when You're Buying or Selling a Home Peter Gratton, M.A.P.P., Ph.D., is a New Orleans-based editor and professor with over 20 years of experience in investing, risk ...

Learn what owner financing is, the pros and cons for buyers and sellers, and what to consider before entering into one of these agreements in 2025.

Owner financing isn’t a typical way to buy a home, but it’s one more option. If you’ve explored traditional mortgages and come up short, this might be your way forward.

Also known as an installment sale or land contract, a contract for deed is when a buyer does not receive the deed to owner-financed property until he makes the final loan payment.

When you sell a piece of property with owner financing, it is considered an installment sale instead of a regular sale of real estate. For example, when you sell a house or a piece of land ...

Land contracts are typically much shorter than a 15- or 30-year mortgage. The agreements are often for five years or less, says Erica Crohn Minchella, a real estate attorney in Skokie, Illinois.

Accelerate solves this by purchasing the land and renting it back to owners, allowing them to focus on developing their projects for 20, 30, 40 or even 100 years without having to worry about ...

Owner financing—also known as seller financing—lets buyers pay for a new home without relying on a traditional mortgage. Instead, the homeowner (seller) finances the purchase, often at an ...