Seller Financing
A sale in which the seller acts as the lender: the buyer takes ownership and pays the seller in installments under negotiated terms instead of — or alongside — a bank loan. It can open deals that conventional financing would not reach, and the terms are set by the contract the parties sign.
Related terms
Private Money
Loans from individuals — often people the borrower knows, or investors seeking yield — rather than from banks or hard money lending companies. Terms, rates, and security are whatever the two parties negotiate, which makes private money more flexible and more relationship-dependent than institutional lending.
House Hacking
Living in one part of a property while renting out the rest — the other units of a small multifamily, a basement apartment, or spare bedrooms — so rental income offsets the cost of housing. Because the owner lives there, the purchase can often be made with owner-occupant financing, which typically carries lower down payments than investor loans.