Across the country, people like Mr. Williams have found themselves in similar predicaments. Unable to obtain a traditional mortgage, they have signed a high-interest, seller-financed deal known as a contract for deed that works like an installment plan for housing. For many, these deals can quickly turn into money traps.

The deals also have added to neighborhood blight when the houses fall into further disrepair.

Contracts for deeds are difficult to track because the transactions are not recorded in many states. It can become difficult to determine who actually owns the property — and who is responsible for its upkeep and paying property taxes — often because the original contract is sold to several investors over time.

The financing has become such a problem in poor communities that it has prompted a range of responses. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta recently issued a report calling for better recording of contracts for deed. The Uniform Law Commission, an organization that proposes model laws for states, is weighing whether there should be a uniform law governing the rights and responsibilities of buyers and sellers in contracts for deed. A commission committee looking into the matter conducted a survey that “found problems or abuses with contract for deed in 80 percent of the states.”

Even in Ohio, where contracts for deeds are supposed to be recorded, Mr. Williams’s case slipped between the cracks.

In April, the City of Cincinnati sued Harbour Portfolio Advisors, a Dallas-based investment firm that originally sold the home to Mr. Williams through a contract for deed. The city sought to hold Harbour accountable for shirking its responsibility to maintain dozens of homes in the city and failing to pay more than $360,000 in unpaid fines and fees.