Anyone else carrying a note on rural land when their day job already puts them in front of appraisals all week

Third-party servicers are findable, and for a single note this size the cost is usually $25 to $50 a month. That is $300 to $600 a year on a note where you are collecting $1,450 a month, so the spread survives it. Companies like Madison Management Services, FCI Lender Services, and Allied Servicing handle small private notes. A servicer collects payments, sends statements, tracks escrow if you require it, and creates the paper trail you would need if something ever went to a trustee sale. You still make decisions, but you are no longer the one calling the borrower when a payment is three days late.

On your first-twelve-months question: I do not have deal experience to draw from, and I would not want to give you a number that sounds authoritative when it is not. What I would do is ask your servicer candidates directly. They service hundreds of notes and will tell you frankly what their early default rates look like on owner-financed residential deals. That is a better answer than anything I can give you.

The thing worth naming: your appraisal background gives you an unusual advantage on the asset side. You already know what this property is worth and what it would take to resell it if you had to. Most people carrying a note for the first time do not have that. The gap in your experience is the servicing side, and that is exactly what a third-party servicer closes.

For North Carolina foreclosure timelines and your specific forfeiture process, I would spend an hour with a real estate attorney before you sign anything. One consultation now is cheaper than ambiguity later.

Are you open to using a servicer, or is the preference to keep it fully in-house?

The assumption doing the most work in your year-seven math is that the buyer stays current long enough for the interest income to compound in your favor. If they exit in years two or three, whether by paying off, selling, or defaulting, you likely net less than a clean sale after carrying costs, servicer fees, and any forfeiture timeline. That is not necessarily a deal-breaker, but it is the number worth stress-testing before anything else.

On third-party servicers for small seller-financed notes: they exist, and at this loan size they are findable. Firms that specialize in note servicing, sometimes called "portfolio loan servicers" or "private note servicers," typically charge a flat monthly fee in the range of $25 to $75 per loan, though you should confirm current pricing directly with any firm you contact, because fee structures vary and change. That fee compresses your spread but buys you something real: a documented payment history, compliant 1098 issuance, and a paper trail that matters if you ever need to enforce. For a first note, the administrative distance alone is worth pricing in.

The forfeiture question you raised is the one I want to flag more sharply. North Carolina's deed of trust process gives you a non-judicial foreclosure path, which is faster than a judicial state, but the timeline still runs months, requires a trustee, and triggers specific notice requirements. What you have not mentioned is what happens to your cash flow and your liquidity position during a six-month workout on a $1,450-a-month note. Your appraisal income presumably covers your life, but carrying a non-performing note while managing the enforcement process is a different kind of stress than analytical work, and it is worth modeling that scenario explicitly, not just acknowledging it.

A licensed real estate attorney in North Carolina should review the note and deed of trust structure before you close. That is a non-negotiable step, and I will leave the specifics there.

What does your cash reserve look like if this note goes dark for six months in year two?

Third-party servicers handle single notes this size; the spread question is whether 30-50 monthly fee eats enough to matter at 9.5 percent.

The risk nobody has named is due-on-sale exposure if you ever need to refinance or sell your own underlying interest in the property before the note matures.

What does your deed of trust say about your right to assign the note, and have you had a real estate attorney confirm the seller-financing disclosure requirements North Carolina imposes on non-institutional lenders?