Our market here wouldn’t sustain that business model. You seem to be talking about seller financing, which around here is only available to successful RE investors not your average resident here.
Unless the landlord has a fat mortgage to pay on the rental house, selling fsbo is a lot more feasible than constantly paying taxes, insurance, upkeep, and being on the hook for all repairs. And the tenant can always get the owner in trouble with the mortgage lender, by not paying all winter long as mentioned in the article of the thread. The anxiety from living on the edge, would drive me out of business!
Rule #2 that I learned at the start was, don’t borrow money. No mortgage, no car loan, no plastic. That has helped a lot.
I suspect that your “average resident” is not a “successful RE investor” because he started with a mortgage on the property and it was billed as paying for itself because it came pre-loaded with tenants. That’s no way to go through life!