In this conversational episode, Christian Osgood and Cody dismantle common myths surrounding seller‑financed real estate transactions. They clarify that a seller‑financed buyer does retain ownership—holding legal title while the seller holds a lien, akin to a bank lender—distinguishing equitable from legal title. They refute the belief that profitable deals must be off‑market, citing that over half of their own acquisitions, including large multi‑unit projects, were found on the MLS, and emphasize that creative financing can unlock on‑market opportunities. The hosts argue that success is repeatable, not dependent on “unicorn” luck, and outline a systematic approach: identify the deal, secure debt first, then allocate equity, demonstrating that personal or family money isn’t a prerequisite. Finally, they address legal misconceptions, confirming that seller‑financing and contract‑for‑deed arrangements are permissible in markets like Texas when properly structured. Throughout, the tone remains conversational and corrective, aiming to equip viewers with actionable insights to navigate seller financing confidently.
Chapters
Well, you're seller financing, so you don't really own the property, you just manage it.
Wrong. That's not quite how that works. Today we're talking about misconceptions in the real estate business when it comes to buying on seller financing.
Hello and welcome back to our channel. I'm Christian, this is Cody. Super excited to dive in today's topic. We're going to talk about all the different myths and misconceptions that we run into all the time. One of the first ones that I get all the time is, well, you're seller financing, so you don't really own the property, you just manage it.
Wrong. That's not quite how that works. They're a lender, but they're not on title. I'm on title, my LLC is on title, and they're not. They have a lien against title. They're a lender just like a bank would be. The fact that I owe them money, I make payments to them. Do I manage the real estate? Absolutely. I'm an operator. I'm not just an investor. However, I also do own it as I get the tax benefits of said ownership. Mm-hmm.
Even when we do that contract for deed stuff, it's like, yeah, sure, both parties can show up on title, but there's a difference between equitable title and legal title. So common misconception, but no matter how you put it together, seller finance or contract for deed, you do in fact own and control the asset.
Now, myth number 2, you have to buy off market. Wrong.
About half of our deals, actually, I think just over half of our deals have been on market, including our biggest deal, the 38-plex. Well, our resort was the biggest. Oh, that, which was also, guess where we found that? Yeah, on the market.
Our biggest deals were on the market. Some of our best deals that have made us the most money were on the market. You're not going to just get these unicorn deals. We'll talk about unicorns later, but you're not going to get these crazy awesome deals just off market. You can absolutely find them on the MLS.
Now, if they've been there for a long time, you're probably going to have to add some creativity that other people didn't use, but that's why we talk so much about creative finance. So is it going to be just a lay down where you can just go to a bank and finance all of them? Probably not. If they've been on the market for a long time, if you can add creative financing, you can figure out how to buy just about anything.
Now, some people are saying that I just got lucky, that I found a unicorn. If I found a unicorn, then it would have stomped at one 12-plex, but 2 12-plexes, like 4 6-plexes, bunch of triplexes, bunch of duplexes, 7-plex, 7-plex, a resort, the 10, the next 12 that we're under contract on. That wouldn't have happened if it was a unicorn, if it could only be done once. None of that would have happened because a lot of those were from different owners. It's not a unicorn deal and it doesn't take luck to play this game. If you say it takes luck, you're probably not buying a lot of real estate or you probably don't own any real estate. So you should probably flip your switch in your mind and start asking, how could I repeat this? Because it's absolutely repeatable.
Next myth, you can only do this if you start out with your friend and family money. Cody, it's all daddy's money, right?
Oh, of course. No, I've never borrowed money from my dad to buy real estate. I didn't call up my dad or my mom or my aunt or my uncle. I don't have a rich uncle and I don't have rich parents. I've never borrowed money to buy real estate from family. I've seen how that can go super south with other people. I don't need to do that. It takes money to make money. No, it doesn't.
Now, while you do, I guess technically now that I think about it, it does take someone's money. It just doesn't have to be your money. You do in fact have to trade something for a property unless you're just straight up trading a property for a property. Generally speaking, sure, it will take some money. However, how you structure it is really, Instead of looking at it as, well, I don't have money so I can't buy it, it's how would I buy this and where would the money come from? So you start with the deal and then you figure out the debt because that's most of the money.
Yep.
And then you figure out the equity. We say that all the time. Deal the debt, then equity. Deal the debt, then equity. That's all you have to figure out is what is the opportunity and where's the money going to come from?
Now, what I do know as a fact, and that is not a myth, is that 95% of all the people that spew these myths out at us have no avatar and they have no picture on their profile. They also probably have no real estate. So if you're one of those people, maybe you should opt to learn and ask questions of how you could repeat it, because this thing is repeatable. You can play the game and these myths just aren't reality. You can absolutely replicate this. Many people have done it from many different demographics, and this is the way everyone used to play the game.
I've heard this one all the time on our channel. Seller financing contract for deed is illegal in my market.
No, it's just not. While someone said you cannot do that in Texas, we're working on— oh my goodness, the size of it. Oh, we'll talk about it if it comes through, but we are working on a multi-hundred unit seller finance portfolio over in Texas right now, seller financed. And we've looked at some with real estate contracts. Not only can you do it, a lot of people are doing it. So before you start spitting facts that aren't actually facts Make sure you check them.
That's what we have for today. The myths and misconceptions that people have in real estate that we see on our channel all the time.
Make sure to follow along on this journey. Hit the like, comment, and subscribe button, and we'll see you next time.
