Curious—anyone here holding a private mortgage note?

Question

I’ve been learning more about real estate notes lately — especially how some sellers carry back financing and receive monthly payments.

Out of curiosity, are any of you currently holding a note (performing or not)?
Would love to hear how you decided whether to keep the cash flow or sell the note.

Trying to understand the pros/cons better from people with real-world experience. 👇

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

been in seller carry back of notes since the late 70s..  we will sell notes when we want liquidity.  Or we simply hypothicate them..

Ke Nan Wang · Answer

I have some limited experiences with private lending either as the real estate agent, the lender or as the borrower myself. All of our deals were short term, within a year. I know some investors who do more commercial deals hold longer seller financing notes. I helped a restaurant owner sold her restaurant with a liquor license on a multi million dollar seller financing note. It's been 3 years since the sale and the seller are not having a good relationship with the current owner. The current owner is still performing but every month is like pulling teeth that the seller is just tired. The restaurant business appeared to have taken a nose dive since the new owner took charge. The seller has retired since so she absolutely does not want to foreclose on the current buyer, take the real estate back and repeat the process again. I would imagine she would love to take a discount on the note and take her money and get rid of the headache. In the end, just all depend on the reward vs. headache.