A new home you would rave over because it is ideal for you in terms of its proximity to your place of work and other points of convenience for your family, like the church, the bookstore, the marketplace, the malls, and a good school for your kids would be a rare find; it is even a rarer coincidence that itd be owned by a kind-hearted (or desperate?) person whod be willing to enter into an owner mortgage arrangement with you just to let you have it for a song. What is your song? Well, you will be well-advised if you would title it honesty.

You should give the owner a clear-cut idea of how much you have saved up for a down payment and how much you could afford to pay on a monthly basis from off your humble monthly paycheck. Now, take note that youd be pressing your luck too far if youd still expect the owner to allow you to pay the balance for so many years, interest-free! Hey, but, what the heck, you have gone this far, and nothing should stop you from trying. Then, after youve sung your song, you cross your fingers and pray that maybe, just maybe, youd melt the owners heart and youd get yourself a good deal.

You ought to know, though, that there are trade-offs to an owner mortgage that will make it a beneficial two-way street for both the seller and the buyer. For the buyer, aside from the fact that he might be allowed to pay a small amount for down payment, maybe he would also be allowed to pay an easily affordable monthly payment and at a longer term; that would be very generous already, indeed, because it will provide the buyer with enough leeway for budgeting his small monthly income. For the seller, on the other hand, he could impose a hefty interest on the balance because he would allow the buyer so many years to pay it until the agreed full amount has been paid for and the sale is sealed; also, the seller would have the convenience of deferring payment of the government-imposed taxes while the sale is not yet sealed.

If you are among the few ones blessed enough to find such a rare seller whod enter into an owner mortgage arrangement with you, take care of the deal and pay your mortgage payment faithfully -- after all, a rare find deserves a degree of loyalty to commitment.