How it works
Read this whole page before you talk to anybody about owner financing — us included. Half of what gets sold under this name in Kansas City is not this.
The houses on this site belong to their owners, who have asked us to present them. You deal with the owner's terms, and we put the two of you together and carry the paperwork through a title company.
You sign a purchase contract, you take possession, and you hold the buyer's interest in the property. The exact instrument depends on the home and on what the law in that place requires — usually a contract for deed, sometimes papered differently to satisfy local rules. Whichever it is, you get it in writing and the document itself governs, so read it and ask which one yours is.
Your payment is set against a 30-year schedule at a rate that is locked with the seller and does not move. Every payment is principal and interest against a stated balance, so you can see what you owe and what you have paid down.
From the day you sign. It is yours to live in, to put a tenant in, to sell, or to refinance into a conventional loan whenever you qualify. Those are the rights that separate buying a house from renting one, and you have them at the start.
A real closing with a real title company and a notary, not a kitchen table. Ask for the contract to be recorded at the county — recording is what makes your interest public and protects it against anything that happens to the seller afterwards. Missouri requires a contract for deed to be recorded within 30 days of signing.
At payoff, the day you refinance out, or on a sale — the seller holds title until then, as security, and it comes to you when the debt is satisfied. Until then you live in it, improve it, and build equity with every payment — and you carry the responsibility that comes with that.
Principal and interest, and property taxes and insurance. Ask which of those are inside your monthly figure and which sit on top of it, and get the answer in writing before you sign — it is the difference between a payment you can carry and one you cannot. We make sure the taxes and insurance actually get paid either way, because a lapse hurts both of us.
We are telling you this even though some of these are our competitors. If you get hurt by one of them, you stop trusting this whole category — including us.
This is the big one. An unrecorded contract for deed leaves you invisible at the courthouse, so a later buyer, a lender or a creditor of the seller can take priority over you. Missouri requires recording within 30 days of signing. If a seller will not record, walk away.
If the seller still owes a bank and stops paying, the bank can foreclose out from under you even though you are current. Ask for written disclosure of every mortgage, lien and encumbrance, and how they get cleared before your last payment. Both Missouri and Kansas require that disclosure in writing.
Ask, and get the answer in writing. On a contract for deed Missouri gives you at least 60 days to cure once you have paid 30% of the price or made 48 payments, and Kansas gives 30 days under half paid and 90 days at half or more. A contract that says you lose everything on a single late payment is not enforceable as written.
Missouri requires the seller to send one each January showing the remaining balance and what went to principal, interest and rate. If nobody can tell you your balance, you cannot tell whether you are actually getting anywhere.
This is the one that decides everything, and the label on the document is not the test. A real purchase has a price, an amortization schedule and a balance that goes down; you can sell, rent out or refinance the house; and the title comes to you when the debt is paid. A rent-to-own or a lease option has none of that — you are a tenant with a right to buy later, your payments build nothing, and if you cannot qualify at the end the option simply expires. Ask to see the amortization schedule. If there is not one, you are renting.
A real closing has a neutral third party. If someone wants to do this at a kitchen table with a form they printed, leave.
It depends on the house and on your situation, and it is larger than a bank would require — that is the trade for not needing a bank. Call and we will give you the real number for a real house instead of a range that means nothing.
We may look, but a score is not what decides it. What you can put down and what you can reliably pay each month is what decides it.
Yes. We do this regularly.
Talk to us before it happens, not after. We are a local company and the person you call is the person who can actually do something. We would rather work something out than foreclose — foreclosure is expensive and slow for us too.
Yes, and many buyers do after building a payment history. There is no prepayment penalty designed to trap you.
Yes. It is yours. The remaining balance on our note gets paid off at that closing, exactly like a mortgage would be.
Ways to buy
These get used as if they were the same thing and they are not. The difference that matters most is what you hold on the day you sign, and when the deed actually becomes yours.
01
The ordinary path, and the cheapest one.
A lender loans you the purchase price and takes a deed of trust against the house as security.
The deed, from closing. You are the owner on day one and the lender is a lienholder.
The lowest rate and usually the smallest down payment of any path on this page.
Credit history, documented income, a social security number, and two to four weeks of underwriting.
If you can qualify, nothing on this page beats it. Everything below exists for people a bank will not serve.
02
A real mortgage without a social security number.
Some lenders write mortgages against an ITIN instead of an SSN. It is a bank product, not a workaround.
The deed, from closing, exactly like any other mortgage.
A higher rate and a larger down payment than a conventional loan, because fewer lenders compete for this business.
An ITIN, income you can document, and a lender who actually writes them — not every one does.
Worth asking about before assuming a bank is closed to you. A lot of people who qualify for one never find out they do.
03
The seller acts like the bank, and you still get the deed.
The seller sells you the house and takes back a promissory note secured by a deed of trust — the same instrument a bank would use.
The deed, from closing. The seller is a lienholder, the way a bank would be.
A rate set by the seller, normally above a bank's, and a down payment they are comfortable with.
A seller who owns the house free and clear, or whose own lender permits it. Many cannot do this even if they want to.
The strongest form of seller financing for a buyer, and the least common, because it asks the most of the seller.
04
You buy now and title follows when the balance is paid. This is what most of our homes are.
A recorded purchase contract. You take possession and equitable title — the buyer's interest in the property — and the seller keeps legal title as security until the balance is paid.
Possession from day one, and a contract recorded at the county in your name. A stated price on a 30-year amortization at a fixed rate, and the right to rent the house out, sell it or refinance it. Title transfers at payoff, on a sale, or the day you refinance into a conventional loan.
A rate above a bank's and a real down payment. Taxes and insurance are on top of the principal and interest.
That you read the contract, ideally with your own attorney, and check three things: that it gets recorded, what mortgages or liens are already on the house and how they clear, and how long you get to cure a missed payment.
Both Missouri and Kansas regulate these now, including written disclosure of encumbrances and a cure period that lengthens as you pay the balance down. A seller who will not record the contract is telling you something.
05
Not a purchase. A rental with a promise attached.
A lease, plus an option to buy later at a set price. The option is a right to buy, not a purchase.
A tenancy. No ownership interest, nothing recorded, no equity.
Option money you can lose, rent that usually runs above market, and an interest cost buried inside the rent rather than stated.
That you still qualify for a mortgage at the end, which is the part people miss. If you cannot, the option expires.
Missing a payment in the wrong month can cost you everything you have put in, because legally you were renting.
A few sellers paper a real installment purchase on lease-option forms because that is what the law in a particular place requires, and that is a different thing from a rental dressed up as a purchase. The test is the substance: is there a purchase price and an amortization schedule with a balance that goes down, can you rent it out, sell it or refinance it, and does title come to you when the debt is paid? If the answer is no, you are renting. Ask us which document a given home uses and we will show it to you before you sign.
06
Fastest, simplest, and rarest.
You pay the purchase price and take the deed. No lender, no appraisal, no financing contingency.
The deed, free and clear, at closing.
Nothing in interest — and every dollar is tied up in the house.
Verifiable funds. A serious seller will ask to see them.
A cash offer wins against a financed one at the same price, which is worth knowing whichever side of the table you are on.
Nothing here is legal advice. Whichever path you are looking at, have your own attorney read the contract before you sign it — it is the cheapest money you will spend on the house.
Someone calls you — a person, not a recording. Usually within a few hours.
We ask what you can put down and what you can pay monthly. That decides which houses are real for you.
We show you those houses. If none of them work, we tell you and we keep your number for when one does.
Rather talk right now? (913) 513-2656