Last Updated on September 29, 2026 by T.J. Fitzgerald
This week’s tip is a practical way to keep real estate in your mix without becoming a landlord.
Late starters want the inflation hedge and cash-flow profile property can provide. What they do not want is tenant screening, midnight repair calls, or another set of keys. Seller-financed notes sit in that middle ground. You hold a mortgage secured by a house or small commercial property that someone else occupies and maintains. The borrower sends the payment. You collect principal and interest.
You do not need a large check to begin. With five thousand dollars you can start by brokering instead of buying. A private seller who originated the note wants liquidity. A note buyer wants the yield. You introduce the two, the funder puts up the capital, and you earn a fee. Later you can buy a small performing note or a partial if the numbers and collateral make sense.
Typical purchased paper in this size range has been pricing in the eight-to-twelve percent neighborhood when bought at a discount, though every file is different and past results are not a promise of future ones. The work that protects you is the work a careful lender would do: payment history, value versus remaining balance, insurance and tax status, and borrower stability. Run those items through a time-value calculator before you commit cash or recommend a file.
None of this replaces a conversation with your own tax and legal advisors; circumstances vary and a note that looks clean on paper can surprise you.
If you want current offerings to study, the lists are at noteinvestors.com/leads. If the zero-capital referral route is more realistic right now, the outline is at noteinvestors.com/broker-opportunity. The Note Investing Formulas program will walk through the pricing math when it opens.
That is the exposure without the toilet.
IN THE “HOW TO TURN 90%..” PROGRAM, YOU WILL LEARN:
