Our notes come from the people who hold them. A note holder asks us for a price, we gather the facts and the documents, and we put the note in front of buyers whose criteria it fits. Bank pools and notes lifted from listing boards are not part of what we send.
Before you spend time on anyone’s deal flow, you should know where it comes from, what has been checked before you see it, and what is still your job.
Where the notes come from
The seller side of this site is written for note holders: people who sold a house, a piece of land or a business and agreed to be paid over time. Each holds a promissory note, the borrower’s written promise to pay, and in a real estate sale a mortgage, deed of trust or land contract that ties the debt to the property. When one of them wants cash, they send us the details and ask what the note is worth.
That shapes what reaches you. These notes were created privately, one at a time, by individuals and small businesses: seller-financed first liens on homes and land, land contracts, and notes from the sale of a business. Some are performing, meaning the borrower pays as agreed, and some have a late payer, which is one of the reasons a holder gets in touch with us at all.
What private paper means for a buyer
A seller-financed note was written at a kitchen table or in a local attorney’s office, with no bank closing department involved. Expect the good and the bad that follow from that.
| What you may find | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Terms negotiated between two people | Rates, terms and balloons vary widely, so each note has to be read, not assumed |
| A cash down payment, where the seller asked for one | Equity from day one gives the borrower a reason to keep paying |
| Payment records kept by the holder | History may be bank statements and a ledger instead of a servicer’s report |
| Documents drawn by a local attorney, a title company or the parties themselves | Quality ranges from clean to incomplete, and gaps have to be found before closing |
| Borrowers who did not use a bank | Credit may be thin or damaged, so equity and payment history carry more weight |
The practical result is that the file decides the price, and two notes with the same balance can be very different purchases.
What we collect before a note goes out
We ask the holder for the facts a buyer needs to give a first price, and for the documents that back them up.
- The terms. Original amount, rate, payment, start date, payments left, any balloon, and the balance still owed.
- The security. The property address and type, the lien position, and the recorded mortgage, deed of trust or contract.
- The payment record. How many payments have been made and whether any were late, with whatever evidence the holder has.
- The sale. The price the property sold for and the down payment the borrower made.
- The borrower. What the holder knows, and whether a credit report can be obtained with proper authorization.
- The reason for selling. A holder who is settling an estate and a holder who is tired of chasing payments are describing two different notes.
This goes into a summary laid out in the same order each time, so you can compare one note with the next without hunting. Where a document is missing, or a fact rests only on the holder’s word, the summary marks it.
Where our work stops
A summary from us is a starting point for your own due diligence, the work the investor guide is built around. We pass on what a seller tells us and mark what a document backs up, without warranting any of it. We give no title opinion, property valuation or legal advice, and we will not tell you what return to ask for or whether a note suits you.
Before you fund, you verify the documents, the title, the property value and the payment history yourself or through people you hire. A due diligence checklist for note buyers keeps that work in order. Part of it is knowing what is in a collateral file, so that you can tell when a document you should receive is absent.
How a note reaches you
When you join the buyer list you tell us what you buy: note types, lien positions, states, balance sizes, and whether you want performing notes, non-performing notes or both. We match on those criteria, so a buyer who wants only performing first liens on houses does not hear from us about a defaulted land note.
When a note fits, you receive the summary. To go further, you tell us the price you would pay and any conditions. A note goes to every buyer on the list whose criteria it fits, so assume you are bidding against others unless your criteria are unusual. Where the payment record and the remaining term make it workable, we also ask for a price on a partial, which is the purchase of a set number of payments with the rest of the note returning to the seller afterwards. Look into buying partials as an investor before you ask to see them, because a partial is priced and documented differently from a whole note.
What sellers see, and why it affects you
An offer we present to a seller comes with a pricing sheet: the balance, the yield used, the gap between the balance and the price, and our own fee. The seller pages on this site teach holders to read it and to compare offers on more than price.
For a buyer, the effect is that a low opening bid followed by a cut before closing does not work well here. Sellers are told to ask why any price changes, so a reduction needs a reason found in due diligence that you can show them on paper.
When we are a bidder ourselves
We buy some notes with our own or partner capital and broker the rest. On a note where we are a bidder we cannot also be a neutral go-between, and the seller is told which role we are playing. We would sooner lose a note to a higher bid from the list than have a seller wonder whether the process was fair.
How uneven the flow is
Deal flow from individual note holders comes in no fixed number each month, and there will be stretches when nothing matches your criteria. Narrow criteria mean fewer notes. Some notes we price never reach buyers at all, because keeping the note turned out to be the better answer for the holder.
Decide your criteria before you ask to see notes
The list works only as well as the criteria you give it. Write down the note types and lien positions you will buy, the states where you have an attorney or are willing to find one, the smallest and largest balance you will consider, and whether a partial interests you. If any of those is still a blank, fill it in before you ask to see notes, because a summary is hard to judge when you have nothing to hold it against.
Related questions
Do you sell pools of bank loans?
No. The notes we see were created privately, one at a time, by people who sold a property or a business with seller financing. Institutional funds and bank pools are not what this list is built for.
Will I be the only buyer who sees a note?
Expect company. A note goes to every buyer on the list whose criteria it fits, so you may be bidding against others. Nothing requires you to bid on a note you receive.
Have the notes been through due diligence before I receive them?
No. We collect the facts and the documents the seller has and mark what is backed up and what is missing. Verifying the documents, title, property value and payment history before funding is the buyer's responsibility.