Carried the whole price on a starter house, got it back worse than I sold it
This was supposed to be the easy version. I had a small two bedroom I had fixed up, market value around 122k, and a buyer who could not get a mortgage because of a short work history. We agreed on 118k with 5k down and I carried 113k at 9%, 30 year amortization, payment about 909.
He paid five times. Month six was late and partial, month seven was nothing, and after that I got promises. I had no escrow set up, so I did not find out until month nine that the property taxes were unpaid and the insurance had lapsed in month four. I paid the taxes to protect my position because I did not want the county involved.
Getting the house back took most of a year. Timelines and process are completely different state to state, and mine is on the slower end, so I will not throw a number out as if it applies to anyone else. Out of pocket I spent about 9,600 on legal and filing, 2,300 in taxes and insurance I covered, and then 6,000 in repairs when I finally walked in. He had pulled the water heater and there was a hole in a bedroom wall.
Against that I had collected 5k down and about 4,500 in payments. So I am down roughly 8,000 in cash and a year of a house sitting empty, and I still own it.
What I would do differently. A real down payment, because 5k does not hold anybody in place. Escrow for taxes and insurance through a servicer so I get told the month something lapses instead of finding out in month nine. And I would have spent money on an attorney to draft the documents before signing rather than after everything went sideways.