Owner financing is almost never done here - I've never heard of anyone who did it. We would love to avoid the bank, but not at all costs. We would rather live our lives making payments to them (and getting rid of the debt asap) than live our version of the 'just-outside-Hell' for the next 10-20 years and have our child(ren) be almost grown and gone by the time we can afford a place outright. Land is very cheap comparatively where we want to buy, it's just not affordable for most people anyway.