Contract4Deed Wiki
USA Seller Financing Legal Library
A reference companion to Contract4Deed.com. Legal information, not legal advice.
The citation-defensible, 50-state reference on contract-for-deed and installment land-contract law — formation and mandatory disclosures, the buyer’s equitable interest, default and remedies (forfeiture vs. foreclosure), the federal consumer-protection overlay, title/recording/wraps, tax, and bankruptcy.
Legal information, not legal advice. Every legal claim cites a primary source we actually retrieved. Statutes in this area are frequently amended — check each page’s
last verifieddate.
Start here
- By state → texas, minnesota, ohio, indiana, florida … (all 56 jurisdictions)
- The core question — can you forfeit or must you foreclose? → forfeiture-vs-foreclosure
- Federal exposure → dodd-frank-seller-financing · safe-act-mlo · garn-st-germain-due-on-sale · irc-453-installment-sale
- Landmark cases → skendzel-v-marshall-1973 · sebastian-v-floyd-1979
Who this is for
▸ Sellers / Operators — Before you write a contract in a state, confirm three things here: whether forfeiture is available or the deal must be foreclosed, which disclosures are mandatory (and the penalty for missing one), and your Dodd-Frank / SAFE Act threshold exposure. Getting these right is what keeps the contract enforceable.
▸ Buyers — Know your equitable title, your cure rights on default, and whether the law bars the seller from forfeiting once you’ve built equity.
Sections
- Jurisdictions — one page per state/territory, full schema.
- Federal — the Dodd-Frank, SAFE Act, Garn-St. Germain, IRC §453, and CFPB regimes as they apply to seller-financed land contracts.
- Concepts — cross-state doctrine (forfeiture vs. foreclosure, equitable conversion, statutory cancellation, wrap-around mortgages, due-on-sale).
- Cases — verified, good-law decisions.
- Edge cases — wraps, due-on-sale triggers, manufactured homes, seller insolvency, tenancy reclassification.
- Reference — at-a-glance tables and glossary.